Perfectly Answered Prayers

Matthew 7:9
Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone?
Prayer is an appointed means for obtaining what we need.  We are commanded in the Holy Word to pray often and to be persistent in praying for our needs.  Almighty God promises to hear our prayers in order to fulfill our needs in accordance with His will for our lives.  If this were not so, then we would not be instructed to make praying a daily habit. 

We may be confused when it seems that our prayers are not answered.  On the other hand, we should have many examples in our carnal lives in how needs are properly met.  As parents, one of our strongest desires is to feed our children when they are hungry.  It is also one of our greatest responsibilities.  Yet, if our children ask for ice cream when it is dinner time, our answer is usually “no” or “not now”.   While our commitment to them is to feed them, our larger commitment is to see them grow up and become healthy adults.
While the Lord promises to hear and answer all of our prayers of need, His promises are bound by the higher covenant of preparing us for our eternal life in heaven with Him.  So while He always hears our prayers, sometimes His answers will be “no” or “not now.”  Each case will be determined by Him based on where we are or where those that we are praying for are in the path of sanctification.  He will answer in perfect timing in accordance with His will for the lives of all involved.
Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for hearing and answering all of our prayers.  We thank You that You often protect us by not giving us what we ask for when it will take us off the path that You have set aside for our lives.  We pray for the strength to endure when the “nos” and the “not nows” seem so painful.  We ask, Lord, that You help us to keep seeking You so that our prayers will come into alignment with Your will for our lives.  We ask all these things in the name of El Shaddai, our mighty and all sufficient provider, Jesus Christ.

The Yoke of Jesus Christ

Matthew 6:6
But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
Without question, one of Satan’s greatest skills is his ability to keep us distracted from building our relationship with God by keeping us focused on the business of life.  One of his greatest lies is planting the seed in our minds that God does not want to hear about everything in our lives.  Through the perfect work of the Holy Spirit in our lives, we can turn both of Satan’s tactics against him.
The first thing that we should do each day in the privacy of the morning is to invite Jesus to join us throughout the day.  Then everything public in our busy lives will be marked by His presence.  Everything that comes our way as a challenge or a trial can be handed to Him immediately through brief and constant prayer.
Because we have given Jesus the burdens of life throughout the day, we can shut the door on all the cares of the day that usually distract us as we try to pray at night.  Instead of focusing on our cares, we are free to focus on Our God.  We can worship Him, we can praise Him and we can soak in His love.  We can grow in our relationship with Him according to His good and perfect plan for our lives.
Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for providing Your Son to be the yoke that we can take to make our burdens light.  We rejoice in His presence with us throughout the day and night.  We pray for the wisdom and the grace to share all of our cares with Our Savior throughout the day.  We ask, Lord, that You teach us how to come to You without distraction in the evening so that we may spend the time growing in our relationship with You and refreshing ourselves for the next day to be spent in the yoke of Our Savior.  We ask all these things in the name of the One who lightens our burdens, Jesus Christ.

Let the Light of Jesus Christ Shine In Us

2 Corinthians 4:6
For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
As light was the first work in the creation of the earth, so has light been the first work in the creation of new men or women in Christ.  In both cases the light was brought forth to overcome the pre-existing chaotic darkness that existed.  

Jesus is the light, the truth and the way.  No darkness can exist in His presence.  When we accept Him as Our Savior, He comes to dwell within us and the process of removing all the darkness from our lives begins.  All of our sins are brought into the light by the Holy Spirit.  Repentance is required.  To do otherwise is to suggest that we are sufficient in our own ways.  It is not enough to be sorry for our sins.  We must recognize our unworthiness.  We must recognize our need to be cleansed by the Blood of the Lamb.  We must fully submit to Jesus so that we will have the strength to turn away from the darkness, so that we may live in the light.  This process will continue as long as we are in our corrupted bodies.  It will not be completed until we stand before Our Father in heaven at His Throne.  

From the beginning of time, darkness has been allowed to exist with light.  When the new earth is perfected for all eternity and comes into place with the new heaven, the darkness will be put aside forever.  When we take our place in God’s kingdom, the darkness in our lives will also be set aside forever.
Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for exposing all the darkness in our lives.  We pray that we will fully submit to the cleansing process.  May Your Light extend to the outer margins of our lives.  May no element of our lives be untouched.  We pray that the complete work of the Blood of the Lamb will prepare us to take our place in heaven for all eternity.  We ask all these things in the name of the Great Eternal Light, Jesus Christ. 

The Lord is Peace

John 14:27
Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.
When Israel had been under the hand of the Midianites for seven years, the Lord came to Gideon.  He promised to bring Israel peace and victory over the Midianites.  He asked Gideon to lead the way.  Gideon questioned the strength of his people and he questioned his own ability to lead the people against the Midianites.  After the Lord provided Gideon with a sign confirming His promise, Gideon led the Israelites in battle. 
After the Lord provided the victory, Gideon built an altar to celebrate the victory and to praise God for His fulfilled promise of victory and peace.  Gideon named the altar Jehovah Shalom to honor the one who brought the victory.  Jehovah Shalom means the Lord is peace.
Jehovah Shalom is the name that we can call on when our faith is weak because our world is out of sorts or all odds seem stacked against us.  What a magnificent gift we have in the promise of victory and peace offered by Our Savior.   Jesus promises not any peace, but His peace.  He promises us the same peace that allowed Him to face and overcome the tremendous unsettling in His spirit when He knew the certainty of His upcoming death and agony.   Every unsettling event in our lives can be calmed simply by calling on the name of Jehovah Shalom for He promises us His peace.
  
Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You that we can be certain of peace in our lives even when turmoil surrounds us.  We rejoice in knowing that the Prince of Peace is with us always.  We pray, Father, that our faith will be strong in the face of all adversity.  May we be steadfast in all that You call us to do.  May we be certain to look to Your Son, Jesus, to be our rock and our foundation when we need to overcome our fear.  We ask all these things in the name of Jehovah Shalom, Jesus Christ.

Our Place of Rest

Matthew 11:28
Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
God’s plan for our lives calls for total surrender to Him.  The enemy has a different plan.  The enemy uses all the facets of our lives on earth as areas of distraction from our full surrender to Our Lord.  Often our work is the biggest distraction.  Recreation, hobbies and even family activities can be other big areas of distraction for us.  Ironically, the work that we do as a ministry to support the Body of Christ may also become a distraction that keeps us from digging deep into the fount of rest, Jesus Christ. All of these activities can certainly be deemed good and are likely extremely productive.  That is why Satan is so successful in distracting us from God.  Satan entices us to replace God with good things.
Aside from the issue of distraction, Satan weaves in another common hurdle as we pursue good things over God things.  Unfortunately, it can be possible that all the good things that we are pursuing are generating much of the stress and struggles that we face in life.  In an effort to do all these good things, we create time, financial and relationship pressures that burden us.
Oneness with Jesus Christ is the only way for us to successfully balance all that we deal with in life.  Jesus is the fulcrum.  He balances our load by providing the right foundation for all that we do.  When we stay in balance by following the urgings of the Holy Spirit, we can reside in a place of rest and satisfaction unlike anything that the we can derive from our own plans.
Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for being our refuge.  We bless the name of Jesus for being our port in the storm, our deliverer from our sins, our shield against the enemy and our comforter for all of our cares, fears and sorrows.  We pray, Lord, that You will draw us into full surrender to Your Son, not only in the words of our lips, but in the actions that come from our hearts.  We seek to find the rest for our souls that is only available through Our Savior.  We ask all these things in the name of Our Resting Place, Jesus Christ.

Exchanging One Treasure for Another

Luke 18:22
When Jesus heard this, he said to him, “One thing you still lack. Sell all that you have and distribute to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.”
The young ruler, as he is often called, was given the directive to sell what He had and follow Jesus.  It was a hard word for the young man to take.  He walked away from all that Jesus had offered because he could not give up his earthly treasures in exchange for the treasures that Jesus offered to him.
For most all of us, God’s words do not come to us in such a direct manner as the words spoken to the young man.  They do not come in clear audible context.  God’s directives come to us in the faint internal whisperings of the Holy Spirit.  We receive more of a gentle urging of the spirit rather than an anything audible.  Nonetheless, we are challenged just like the young ruler to decide if God is the most important thing in our lives.

Maybe, unlike the young ruler, it is not our treasures that we are holding on to.  Maybe we are holding on to a job that keeps us away from our family.  Maybe we are holding on to an outside interest that keeps us out of church on Sunday.  Maybe we are holding on to a habit that limits our ability to draw closer to God.  Maybe it is simply pride that is keeping us from fully surrendering to Our Savior.
Whatever it is, it is clear to Our Lord what we are holding on to.  In His loving kindness, He will insure that which we are clinging to is exposed.  The Holy Spirit will reveal the things of the flesh that we are clinging to.  The Holy Spirit will send us urgings that are designed to test our obedience.  If we ignore the urgings, they will become weaker and weaker until they eventually cease.  If we are obedient to the urgings, they will become clearer and clearer to us.  God’s inspiration will become a greater part of our lives as we begin to seek the urgings of the Holy Spirit in all of our endeavors.  Through the process of obedience and surrender, we will learn to walk in the fullness of Jesus Christ.
Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for drawing us to Yourself through the gentle urgings of the Holy Spirit.  We praise You for  providing the ever present Counselor in our daily lives.  We pray that our minds and hearts will be receptive to all that the Holy Spirit brings to us.  We ask for the strength to release the trappings of our flesh that are keeping us from surrendering fully to Your Son.  May our obedience bring richness to our daily walk with Our Savior.  We ask all these things in the name of Jesus Christ, Our Treasure on earth and in heaven.   

Responding to His Knock

Revelation 3:20
Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.
Mary Magdalene was a terrible sinner but she was forgiven from her past sins by Jesus as He cast 7 demons out of her.  She accepted all that He had to offer to her.  Following her deliverance, Mary Magdalene traveled with Jesus as one of his followers.  She was present at Jesus’ two most important moments: the crucifixion and the resurrection.  Based on what Jesus had done for her, Mary was brave enough to stand by Jesus in his hours of suffering, death and beyond. She had a true relationship with her Savior.
On the other hand, when it came to doctrine, Mary was not well schooled.  She certainly would be made to look foolish if challenged in doctrine by the Pharisees who were known for their knowledge of God.  But with all their knowledge about God, they did not know Jesus.  They did not have an intimate, saving relationship with Him.
The Holy Word teaches us that even the demons are profoundly knowledgeable about Jesus, but they do not know Him.  They certainly do not have an intimate relationship with Him.  Full knowledge of Jesus means nothing unless He knows us.  The only way that Jesus knows us (as in accepts us into His kingdom) is if we have accepted Him as Our Savior.  When we respond to Jesus’ voice and accept Him as Our Savior, then our relationship with Him springs forth for all eternity.

Let us go to the door and receive the One who knocks.  Let us open our hearts to Him.  Let us seek to have an intimate relationship with Our Savior King.
Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for providing us with a Savior.  We thank You for sending Your Son to this world so that all could know Him.  We thank You for sending the Holy Spirit to open our hearts so that we could receive Your Son as Our Savior.  We pray, Father, that You will teach us how to go beyond our knowledge of who You are and move into a living relationship with Your Son. May Jesus become the center of all we do.  May He know us.  We ask all these things in the name of the way, the truth and the life, Jesus Christ.

Drawing from the Vine

John 15:2
Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit.
Jesus is the vine.  Our Father in heaven is the vine keeper.  We are the branches.  Every branch is examined by Our Father.  Every branch that is not producing fruit because it does not draw what it needs from the vine is allowed to wither away.  Every branch that is producing fruit is pruned so that it may draw closer to the vine and its production may increase. 

Because we are born with no attachment to the True Vine, we have no hope of bearing fruit.  The Father in heaven is a wise husbandman.  In His mercy and loving kindness, He provides a way for us to be grafted into the True Vine.  Through His grace, He insures that we can draw from the essential elements of the Vine.

Nature provides a good example of this harvesting process.  A small tree rises from the soil and the farmer sees that it is a crabapple.  The farmer knows that the crabapple is healthy but it will never bear good fruit.  So the farmer grafts a golden delicious apple tree into the crabapple tree.  The new tree is now capable of bearing good fruit.  The roots, however, are still of the crabapple.  The roots will continue to produce crabapple shoots.  If the farmer does not prune the crabapple shoots, the new tree will not reach its potential for producing golden delicious apples.
So it is with us.  We were grafted into the body of Christ and given a new life by Our Savior.  The Holy Spirit indwells us to make sure that we are pruning away all of the sin from our old lives.  Unless we submit to the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives, we will not reach the fullness that Almighty God planned for us.
Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for grafting us into Your kingdom through the sacrificial work of Your Son.  We rejoice that You have sent the Holy Spirit to help us to overcome the sin that we inherited and continues to rise up against us as we seek to live as new men and women in Christ.  We pray, Father, that You will provide the inspiration that we need to submit to the Holy Spirit and the strength that we need to stand against the enemy who comes to steal our fruit.  Through Your grace, may we see a full harvest from our lives.  We ask all these things in the name of Jesus Christ, the True Vine.

The Finishing Work of the Master

Hebrews 12:5
My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by him.
Once we accept Jesus Christ as Our Savior, the Lord begins His work in us.  He promises that He will complete every good work in us.  He also promises that He will discipline us as needed to get us to the way, the truth and the life that is in Him.  He will leave no blemish untouched.
As the Lord works on us, we can think of ourselves as a piece of old furniture that needs refinishing.  Our old stain is no longer acceptable at the place where we will be displayed.  We need a new refined finish.  Our new finish cannot be applied until all of the old stain is removed.  The first part of our refinishing will be relatively easy as our old stain is stripped away.  This first step, however, will reveal the depth of the old stain.  This then leads to the tough part of the process.  To get rid of the stubborn stain will require sanding, scraping, chipping and maybe even gouging.  This tedious process will be repeated over and over until all the old stain is completely gone.  Only when all the stain has been removed completely will our final finish be applied.
God has various ways of completing His finishing work in our lives.  Sometimes it is by the gentle urgings of the Holy Spirit, sometimes it is by our reading of His Word and sometimes it is by the spoken words of His ministers.  Often times He uses affliction and trials to bring us to acknowledge and confess our iniquities, to recognize our shortcomings in fulfilling our duties or to convince us of our folly in following our own nature.  All of these things are done through His perfect love and forgiveness.

Let us submit to the work of the Master.  After all, He is preparing us for a place in His house.
Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for preparing us to join You for all eternity.  We bless the name of Jesus for His precious blood that He shed so that we may be washed clean of every stain of sin in our lives.  We bow before You, Father, in full surrender to Your good work in us.  We pray that You take us into Your hands and prepare us to stand before You in the image of Your Son.  We rejoice in knowing that we will be in service to You in Your house forever.  We ask all these things in the name of Our Lord and Master, Jesus Christ.

Our Seasons of Growth

Psalm 1:3
He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers.
The changing of seasons is very easy to observe in nature.  The new growth of the spring is always preceded by the dying out in the winter. 
So it is in our growth as Christians.  The Lord allows us to go through trials and periods of distance from Him in our relationship with Him.  We must take care not to judge our lack of fruitfulness during our winter seasons.  The winter seasons are necessary.  How we respond during these periods of dying out determines the size and the fragrance of the new bloom coming in the spring.  

The more we let ourselves die to Christ in the winters of our lives, the greater will be the produce of our spring times.  The more we let ourselves live in the flesh in our winters, the lesser will be the produce of our spring times.  Let us seek the Holy Spirit to help us understand our seasons so that we are preparing properly for the harvest.
Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for giving us seasons of growth in our relationship with You.  We rejoice in knowing that You have planned for us to go through these growing seasons with the Holy Spirit as our helper.  We pray, Lord, that when we enter into our winter periods of darkness that we may learn to respond to the checks of the Holy Spirit as we battle against the attacks of the flesh.  May Your strength be perfected in our weakness as we blossom in Your perfect light.  We ask all these things in the name of the Bright and Morning Star, Jesus Christ.