Quiet Prayer

 

"For what purpose did Christ go up into the mountains? To teach us that loneliness and retirement is good when we are to pray to God...for the wilderness is the mother of quiet; it is a calm and a harbor, delivering us from all turmoils." - John Chrysostom, (c347-407) 

Technically, there is no such thing as wordless prayer. Prayer's very definition is talking to God. Prayers can be loud or silent, but communication is always involved. We may weep in God's presence or groan under immense emotional or physical pressure. God knows the intentions of the heart. The Holy Spirit prays for us  "with groaning too deep for words."

The Father knows what we need before we ask him. He created us for fellowship with himself. There are times when all we can do is groan or utter the word help - God is with us in our pain. 

Silence is a good habit to practice to cultivate the presence of the LORD in our lives. In the life of Jesus, silence seems more about the atmosphere, not the lack of words.

Jesus often slipped away to be alone with his Father. He told us that we would not be heard for "our empty phrases" or "vain repetitions."

Strategic pauses in prayer are important. 

If we talk all the time, how can we ever listen? Unlike non-Christian religions, our prayers are fueled by the knowledge of God and His Word. Our prayer lives as followers of Jesus should be informed by Scripture.

Sound doctrine (biblical teaching) protects us from listening to the wrong voices. Knowing your Bible protects you from allowing culture or various voices (human or demonic) to form your thought life.

Guard your hearts and minds. Pray silently and pray loudly. Pray all kinds of prayers. Let your focus always be on the triune God. God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit

Scripture to meditate on:

"Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because[a] the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God." - Romans 8:26-27 ESV

“And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words." - Matthew 6-7 ESV

"But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed." - Luke 5:16 NIV

"In the days of His flesh, He offered up both prayers and supplications with loud crying and tears to the One able to save Him from death, and He was heard because of His piety."  - Hebrews 5:7 NASB 95

"And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people." - Ephesians 6:18 NIV

(1) Gerald L. Sittser, Water From A Deep Well, Page 131

Oswald Chambers: The Art Of Prayer

 

"Mastering the art of prayer, like anything else, takes time. The time we give it will be a true measure of its importance to us.

All Christians need more teaching in the art of prayer, and the Holy Spirit is the master teacher. The Spirit’s help in prayer is mentioned in the Bible more frequently than any other help he gives us. All true praying comes from the Spirit’s activity in our souls.

We are to pray in the realm of the Spirit, for the Holy Spirit is the sphere and atmosphere of the Christian life. Much praying is psychical rather than spiritual, in the realm of the mind alone, the product of our own thinking and not of the Spirit’s teaching. But real prayer is deeper. It uses the body, requires the cooperation of the mind, and moves in the supernatural realm of the Spirit.

God has ordained prayer, and we can be confident that as we meet revealed conditions for prayer, answers will be granted. God sees no contradiction between human free will and divine response to prayer. Our obligation to pray stands above any dilemma concerning the effects of prayer.

The praying Christian wields no personal power and authority, but authority delegated by the victorious Christ to whom that faithful believer is united by faith.

Great leaders of the Bible were great at prayer. They were not leaders because of brilliancy of thought, because they were exhaustless in resources, because of their magnificent culture or native endowment, but because, by the power of prayer, they could command the power of God."

Where Prayer Becomes Real by Kyle Strobel and John Coe

Prayer: Talking to God - Vintage Church LA

The Prayer To Crush Casual Prayer - J.D. Walt

 

PRAYER OF CONSECRATION

Wake up, sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you. 

Jesus, I belong to you.

I lift up my heart to you.
I set my mind on you.
I fix my eyes on you.
I offer my body to you as a living sacrifice.

Jesus, we belong to you. 

Praying in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, amen. 

EXODUS 33:7–11 

Now Moses used to take a tent and pitch it outside the camp some distance away, calling it the “tent of meeting.” Anyone inquiring of the Lord would go to the tent of meeting outside the camp. And whenever Moses went out to the tent, all the people rose and stood at the entrances to their tents, watching Moses until he entered the tent. As Moses went into the tent, the pillar of cloud would come down and stay at the entrance, while the Lord spoke with Moses. Whenever the people saw the pillar of cloud standing at the entrance to the tent, they all stood and worshiped, each at the entrance to their tent. The Lord would speak to Moses face to face, as one speaks to a friend. Then Moses would return to the camp, but his young aide Joshua son of Nun did not leave the tent.

CONSIDER THIS

Isn’t it interesting how this text and story about Moses sounds remarkably similar to this word from Jesus:

But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. (Matt. 6:6)

You would think they knew each other. You would be right. In that “tent of meeting” on the far side of the Red Sea; somewhere between the land of slavery and the land of promise, Moses met with the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who with him and the Holy Spirit reign as one God forever and ever, amen. 

Now, compare these two texts:

Now Moses used to take a tent and pitch it outside the camp some distance away, calling it the “tent of meeting.”

Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed. (Mark 1:35)

Are you seeing a theme developing. We might call it . . . wait for it . . . 

CREATE SPACE FOR PRAYER. 

So how do we create space for prayer? There’s clearly no magic formula here, and yet the Scriptures offer us clear and directional wisdom. It strikes me that there are at least three critical elements at play here. First, there is time. Second, there is place. Third, there is the substance of prayer itself. On the one hand, we don’t tend to think of getting prayer wrong, on the other hand, it can be easy to get off track. Here’s what I have learned about myself: If I do not have a set time and a specific place I will tend to fool myself into thinking I a) kind of pray all the time, and b) sort of pray everywhere I am. And that, my friends, is the essence of self-deception and the recipe for the malaise-ical enemy of the kingdom of God we call “casual prayer.” 

Remember, Jesus was very specific:

1. Go to your room.
2. Close the door.
3. Pray to your Father who is unseen. 

If you were to look at my practice over the years my interpretation of the text would appear to be as follows:

1. Go into the living room or den. 
2. Sit in your chair or on the couch you always sit in no matter the occasion and no matter what you are doing.
3. Read the Bible and maybe some devotions and then prayerfully think about God and meditate in silence, doing your best to remember your family and friends with care.
4. And I almost forgot—try not to check your phone when it beeps and buzzes.

There is something about a specific kind of set-apart place for the specific kind of set-apart activity of prayer. Moses had a “tent of meeting.” Jesus had a “solitary place” outside Capernaum, (and the garden of Gethsemane in Jerusalem). Many people have a prayer closet or specific room in their home. You get the point. With something as intangible as prayer, Moses and Jesus reveal to us ways of putting handles on it. They tangibilitate prayer, if you will. 

There’s a favorite movie line from the old movie, Field of Dreams. You may remember it. “If you build it, he will come.” That is exactly the wrong way to think about a time and place as it comes to prayer. This is not a trick or formula or some kind of magic lever to move God. The secret is more like this: If you build it, you will come. We aren’t creating a space so God can show up. We are creating a space so we can show up. That’s the ticket. 

THE PRAYER TO CRUSH CASUAL PRAYER

Abba Father, thank you for sending us your Son, Jesus. Lord Jesus, thank you for getting down on the level with us. Thank you for being so clear, specific, and practical. And thank you for not just telling us how but showing us in your own life. Forgive me for neglecting your specific instructions. Forgive me for assuming I sort of pray without ceasing when the truth is my prayer life is casual. Save me from getting caught up in creating the perfect prayer room. Help me to do this simply, to create time and place for prayer and even more to show up. Thank you that you are already there, even before I create it, waiting for me. Praying in Jesus’s name, amen. 

THE QUESTION

Do you have a specific time and place for prayer? Do you show up there? How has and is God meeting you there? If not, are you ready to move in this direction? If not, why not? 

What Is Prayer?

 

"Prayer is simply talking with God.

We can pray anytime, anywhere about anything that’s on our mind. We don’t have to be in a church, use special words or put our hands together if we don’t want to. God is listening. He wants to hear from us.

So why not start a conversation with the creator of the universe today?

Jesus said:

‘Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.’

 The Gospel of Matthew, chapter 7 verse 7

The Bible encourages us to always pray, about all kinds of topics.** We can ask God to help the people we care for and we can talk to Him about the things we need or we’re worried about. We can also share what we’re grateful for and we can say sorry when we’ve made a mistake.

We can pray by talking, thinking, or writing; we can even try drawing, crafting, or painting what we want to express. We can use our own words, or borrow someone else’s, making them our own.

We don’t need to make grand speeches to God or pretend that everything’s ok. All we need to do is:

Keep it simple.

Keep it real.

Keep it up. "

This post was copied from the 24/7 website https://www.24-7prayer.com/

Shameless Boldness by Spencer Sweeting

" It’s easy to feel powerless to make a difference in a world of pain, disease, injustice, and other forms of brokenness. But as Christians, we are not without power. The Lord’s Prayer exhorts us to invite God’s Kingdom, where the fullness of His goodness and justice exists, to come here; to ask God to provide for our physical needs; and to request His protection against spiritual warfare. But Jesus goes even further: “Suppose one of you has a friend and goes to him at midnight and says to him, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves of bread, because a friend of mine on a journey has come to me, and I don’t have anything to offer him.’ Then he will answer from inside and say, ‘Don’t bother me! The door is already locked, and my children and I have gone to bed. I can’t get up to give you anything.’ I tell you, even though he won’t get up and give him anything because he is his friend, yet because of his friend’s shameless boldness, he will get up and give him as much as he needs” (Lk. 11:5–8, CSB). 

What provokes the friend’s abundant provision? The audacity of the one who asks. God loves to respond to our shameless boldness—not because of anything we’ve done, but according to His compassion. Scripture repeatedly teaches that prayer is a powerful means for effecting change, and this has been lived out in The Alliance from the very beginning of our movement. Skye Jethani puts it this way: “We are not merely passive set pieces in a prearranged cosmic drama, but we are active participants with God in the writing, directing, design, and action that unfolds. Prayer, therefore, is much more than asking God for this or that outcome . . . In prayer, we are invited to join him in directing the course of his world.” 

 When we feel overwhelmed by our world’s brokenness, may we have the audacity to intercede for God’s provision, intervention, and salvation. Let us pray as Jesus did with the persistence that Jesus urged. This is how we’ve been invited to participate in God’s renewal of our world." adapted from an article by Spencer Sweeting, pastor, North Springs Alliance Chu

Different Types Of Prayer Craig Keener

The Spirit Of Intercession by A.B.Simpson

 “And He that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit because He maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God” (Rom. viii. 27). 

The Holy Spirit becomes to the consecrated heart the Spirit of intercession. We have two Advocates. We have an Advocate with the Father, who prays for us at God's right hand; but the Holy Spirit is the Advocate within, who prays in us, inspiring our petitions and presenting them, through Christ, to God. We need this Advocate. We know not what to pray for, and we know not how to pray as we ought, but He breathes in the holy heart the desires that we may not always understand, the groanings which we could not utter. But God understands, and He, with a loving Father's heart, is always searching our hearts to find the Spirit's prayer, and to answer it. He finds many a prayer there that we have not discovered, and answers many a cry that we never understood. And when we reach our home and read the records of life, we shall better know and appreciate the infinite love of that Divine Friend, who has watched within as the Spirit of prayer, and breathed out our every need to the heart of God." 

- Days Of Heaven On Earth, J.B.Simpson, p.154      

Concerts Of Prayer - Prayer Meetings

 CONCERTS OF PRAYER – SAMPLE FORMAT 

For a  60 to 90 minute gathering.  There is no limit to the variations of flow and themes and the mix of prayer formats that can be put into a  Concert of  Prayer.  This is only one example. 

OPENING HYMN OR SONG PRAISE •  Short prayers of praise and thanks offered spontaneously from the group. •  

 PERSPECTIVE •  Brief teaching on the importance of united prayer. • People break into small groups and commit themselves to God. 

CONFESSION •  Individuals come to the mike to confess sins on behalf of the people. •  Silent prayers of confession. •  Song of surrender and confession. •  Declaration of God’s forgiveness and grace. • Song of victory and praise. 

SPIRITUAL AWAKENING (FULFILLMENT) •  Prayers in triads for spiritual awakening in your church. •  Prayers in groups of  7  to  12  for spiritual awakening in your city or town. •  Prayers from the front for spiritual awakening in the whole country. • Song of praise for God’s renewing power. Amen

WORLDWIDE MISSION (FULLNESS) •  Prayers from the front for  God’s kingdom to advance to all the nations. •  Prayers in groups of  7  to  12  for specific areas of need  (consider providing fact sheets or prayer cards about unreached peoples of the world). •  Open time of spontaneous prayers from the whole assembly for the advancement of the  Gospel. • Song or hymn with focus on world needs and worldwide mission.

 DECLARATION •  Encourage one or more people to testify about what  God has shown them through the Concert of Prayer. DEDICATION •  A prayer from the front dedicating the whole group to  God. •  Final song or hymn, declaring  God’s great victory. 

Prayer: Battling In The Unseen Realm

 

I believe in the power of prayer. Through prayer, God can either change our circumstances or teach us to trust in his goodness in any situation. I use ‘The Lord’s Prayer’ as a template for my time with God in the morning. I also use other prayers of Jesus’ in the Gospels, the Apostolic prayers, and the Psalms. These prayers can help to form our devotional time with God. They assist in shaping us into the image of Jesus. 

The Apostle Paul was clear that we do not wrestle with flesh and blood – our real enemies are spiritual beings. Evil entities influence society and the personal lives of individuals (Eph. 6:12.)  It takes Holy Spirit-inspired words to do battle with evil in the spiritual realm.

Praying Holy Spirit-directed prayer – also proclaiming the gospel to the nations is vital in waging war in the unseen realm. Screaming at those we disagree with or at the devil will not give us the results we desire. Angry rants will not bring about the end of spiritual darkness. But, a life lived pursuing the presence of God in prayer can make a difference.

Those who build their lives on Scripture and prayer are entrusted with the power of God to overcome evil. Those who are determined to push back the darkness in society and religion must discover the power of prayer. Followers of Jesus need to stand for justice and to work to make our world a better place. But gaining more political influence will not change one human heart.

Intimacy with Jesus is not an option for those who desire to walk and pray in Christ’s authority. Knowing and abiding in God is our ultimate goal. 

My desire is to pray in agreement with the heart of God. 

1 John 5:14-15 says, “This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us-whatever we ask-we know that we have what we asked of him.” 

We can battle in the unseen spiritual realm by praying in the Spirit – with all types of prayers (Eph.6:18.) And with the confidence that God will use our prayers to help establish his purposes in the earth.In this manner, therefore, pray: Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done On earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, As we forgive our debtors. And do not lead us into temptation, But deliver us from the evil one. For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen. – (Matthew 6: 9 – 12 NKJ)

Getting Cranked Up: Morning Prayer

 

“In the morning, LORD, you hear my voice; in the morning I lay my requests before you and wait expectantly.” – (Psalm 5:3 NIV)

Before I retired I got up early in the morning five days a week for work. And, honestly, my first thought was often more about coffee than God! But, I did grab my Bible and journal as I made my way to my first cup. I had to be at work early so I had very little time to waste.

I came to this conclusion while reflecting on prayer; my experience in morning prayer is much like trying to crank up an old car. It can prove to be problematic. Sometimes I felt like I am just getting “cranked up” and then it was time to leave for work. Other times, I enter into prayer easily and quickly. But, the key to prayer is; consistency, and endurance, even when we feel nothing

The men and women of God (both past and present) that I appreciate the most are people who value prayer. Effective prayer warriors have this in common; their prayers are influenced and guided by the Scriptures. Praying God-breathed words will transform our vocabulary and our thinking. And it helps us to pray the will of God more effectively.

I have found it helpful to study the prayer life of Paul. And to follow his example in prayer. He prayed for the spiritual transformation (which is ongoing) of the Church. His prayers were positive and not focused on the negative. Jesus ( the chief Apostle and High Priest of our faith) taught us to pray for deliverance from the evil one. The Apostle Paul taught us about the nature of our adversary. And how to stand in the power of God against evil.

Below are a few prayers from the book of Ephesians that I pray for myself and others regularly.

Ephesians 1

Heavenly Father, I ask for the Spirit of wisdom and revelation so that I may know Jesus better.

I ask that you would enlighten the eyes of ____heart. So that they may know your glorious inheritance and great power that you have made available to your children.

Ephesians 3

Heavenly Father, strengthen me with power through your Spirit in my inner being. Help me to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge. And fill me with all the fulness of God. Amen

On Devotional Times: My Ten Favourite Sentences: Andrew Wilson

It is sometimes said that devotional times are a peculiarly modern and evangelical phenomenon. I doubt that. Certainly the form of the devotional time practised by evangelicals is modern: personal space, a chair, a Bible, a journal, a pen. Most Christians in history haven't had the money or the literacy for that. But the practice of spending time alone with God, in prayer, often as the day starts, is as old as the Church, and obviously goes back to Jesus himself. So, in an ever-busy world, it is worth thinking about how to make best use of that time.

Sometimes, a flash of insight can come to you in just a sentence, and that has happened to me frequently when it comes to devotional times. (It's what John Piper says about something he read in C. S. Lewis: "Books don't change people; paragraphs do. Sometimes even sentences do.") Of the many things I have read on the subject of devotional or "quiet" times, here are the ten sentences that have most helped me:

“The first great and primary business to which I ought to attend every day is to have my soul happy in the Lord.”
- George Müller

“Find out what helps you connect with God, and make a discipline out of it.”
- Pete Greig

“You made us for yourself,
and our hearts find no peace
until they find their rest in you.”
- Augustine

“How I spend this ordinary day in Christ is how I will spend my Christian life.”
- Tish Harrison Warren

“Raking is easy, but all you get is leaves. Digging is hard, but you might find diamonds.”
- John Piper

“Oddly enough, many people struggle to pray because they are focusing on praying, not on God.”
- Paul Miller

“We breathe in revelation. We breathe out response.”
- Matt Redman

“Have you realised that most of your unhappiness in life is due to the fact that you are listening to yourself instead of talking to yourself?”
- Martyn Lloyd-Jones

“Sometimes my morning prayer simply begins like this:
Lord,
I’m tired,
and I’m grumpy,
but I’m here again.”
- Ray Lowe

“Open my eyes, that I may see
wondrous things in your law.”
- Psalm 119:18

Binding And Loosing Prayer by Tom White

"For those in need of deliverance, I advise a two-track mode of binding and loosing prayer. I ask the Spirit to make the person sick of his or her sin, to plant seeds of truth in the person's mind, and, if for an unbeliever, to stir the person to seek salvation. I also ask the Holy Spirit to silence, subdue and separate demonic influence from the person, thus allowing him/her to respond to truth. Having done this, I wait and watch for God to open doors and bring opportunity to work directly with the one in bondage." - Tom White, The Believer's Guide To Spiritual Warfare, page 202

Answered Prayer: Sermon Notes From Stuart McAlpine

Answered Prayer

Stuart McAlpine

Dearest family,

On Sunday I argued that the lack of our response to asking when it is answered should be as significant a concern to us as our unanswered asking. We need to stop and take stock once in a while. The first thing that should move us, and uncork our gratitude, is how gracious God is in answering us at all, given the inconsistency and infrequency of our asking, or as someone put it,  “the intermittent spasms of our importunity.” Just to realize that our weak asking gets such a strong response, because of the strength of the one asked, not the one asking, should be sufficient to unstop the wells of worship of the character of God.

The more we think about it, the more shocked we should be at the minimal returns from so much answered asking. If our asking is accompanied by thanksgiving anyway, then the lack of it suggests two possible things:

1. There is actually a lot less asking going on than there could be
2. There is a lack of thanksgiving for all the answers received to asking

We are familiar with Jesus’ healing of the ten lepers, only one of whom “came back”. (Lk. 17:11-19) He is described as “praising God in a loud voice.” I am arguing that given the responsiveness of our Father to what we ask of Him, He should be hearing a lot more noise!

The words of Jesus have a disturbing echo: “Was no one found to return…” (Lk. 17:18) If this incident was a rough guide to the return of our responsiveness to the answering response that God returned to us, then we are looking at a 10% return. (Did I say return enough times!) Again, the thought that only one in ten answers may provoke a volley of God-worthy thanksgiving is hard to take and unacceptable. In this case, the non-return of the nine is a bad return on the answer. Speaking of ‘bad returns’, having asked for the answer of forgiveness and received it, let there not be a return of unforgiveness in our hearts towards others, or a return to the confessed sin. Having asked for the answer of deliverance and received it, let us not return to a “yoke of bondage’.Having asked for the answer of guidance and received it, let us not return to a pattern of self-direction. Having asked for the answer of provision and received it, let us not return to any indiscipline that accounted for unnecessary lack. Having asked for the answer of wisdom, let us not return like a fool to his folly. Having asked for a way of escape from ungodly cultural influences and received it, let us not look back like Lot’s wife. These are clearly bad ‘returns’ on good answers.

The return of thanksgiving and praise is what asking has always been about – not the answer per se but the glorifying of God.“Call upon me…and I will deliver you and you shall glorify me.” (Ps. 50:15) His glorification trumps my gratification every time. The psalmist’s ‘return’ of praise is the fact that God “has not turned away my prayer or withheld His love from me.” (Ps. 66:20) We might add, “Therefore I will return my thanksgiving because he has not withheld an answer from me!”  Commenting on this psalm, Spurgeon writes: “What a God is he thus to hear the prayers of those who come to him when they have pressing wants, but neglect him when they have received a mercy; who approach him when they are forced to come, but who almost forget to address him when mercies are plentiful and sorrows are few.”  How is it then that we can be so blessed yet so ‘blah’? How is it that we take for granted what God has granted in answering our asking?

One reason for a lack of sustained expressive affection in response to answers is that our asking is often not imbued with expectation that trustingly lives in anticipation of what God is going to do when we ask. “Petitioning God entails that the petitioner expects an answer.” Sometimes the ‘blah’ begins with our ‘might-as-well’, ‘you-never-know’, ‘can’t-do-any-harm’, and ‘sure-hope-it-gets-through’ kind of asking. How different this is when compared to Solomon’s conviction that his requests would be “near to the Lord our God day and night that he may uphold the cause of his servant.” (1 Kg. 8:59) I have been taught by those like Thomas Goodwin (1600-1680) whose writings providentially ended up on my reading lists as a younger Christian. He was emphatic about the need, once having asked of God, to look earnestly for the answer, and to discern what was going on while the asking continued or while waiting ensued. “It is not enough to pray, but after you have prayed you have need to listen for an answer that you may receive your prayers. The sermon was not done when yet the preacher is done, because it is not done till practiced.” Even so, our asking is not done until we have considered the answers, even if the answer is ‘no answer’.

The fact that we received an answer speaks volumes to us of the loving, purposeful provision of God, but it will also whisper a lot of affirmations and confirmations that perhaps need to be heeded for future spiritual growth and future asking. Did you hear a dog barking? What dog? The asking for deliverance by the enslaved Israelites was raw and raucous: “the Israelites groaned in their slavery and cried out, and their cry for help…went up to God.” (Ex. 2:23) They are asking to get out of there, and they do not care how, but there are so many exquisite details in God’s answer that served to ‘quietly’ underline his power. On the night of the Exodus, who could forget “the loud wailing in Egypt”? (Ex. 11:30) But imagine a conversation a few years into the wilderness journey between Zak and Zeb:

“Hey Zeb, do you remember that night?” 
“Are you kidding me, Zak? My ears are still ringing with the noise!” 
“You know what’s weird Zeb? It’s not the noise I remember but the silence. Do you remember that antsy dog of mine, Nimrod? He never made a single whining, whimpering sound all night. What do you make of that?” 

The text tells us what they were meant to make of that, if they “observed” the full answer. “This is what the Lord says…among the Israelites not a dog will bark at any man or animal.” But why? “Then you will know that the Lord makes a distinction between Israel and Egypt.” Through the dog’s silence, God speaks loudly about himself. The answer to their asking that was their massive national deliverance included these details, that if considered, conveyed awesome revelations about the power of God in this world, but also about how he feels about what opposes his purposes. Do you not think that Zak and Zeb, having considered how God answered their asking on that Exodus night, would want to be sure that they always stayed on the right side of God’s affections?

The point is that God’s answers, when “observed”, yield so many instructional encouragements, and sometimes, whimsical clues about who He is and how He feels about things, and about what is yet possible if these answers are stewarded well. It is understandable that given the relief of the answer, we are now ready to move ahead where we were once stymied, take care of what was on hold, renew our engagement with what was in limbo. Like the nine lepers, it is the most natural thing to get right on with our lives, now that the brake of our unanswered needs, which did everything from slowing us down to bringing us to a full stop, has made way for the accelerator of answered provision. But the truth remains that “You lose much of your comfort in blessings when you do not observe answers to your prayers.” (Thomas Goodwin) Is there any chance we can improve on the lepers’ 10% return? Do bad returns or good ones characterize your responses to God’s answers to your asking? We got what we asked for. Did He get what He was asking for?

Pastorally yours
Stuart