How much faith is enough faith when it comes to moving the hand of God? There is no real way to quantify faith and there is no formula for how much faith is required to impact the will of God. For a person to claim, “I don’t know that I have enough faith”, is to really say, “I don’t know if I really believe God.” The other factor is whether or not the person understands the will of God.

The root of the problem is usually biblical illiteracy. It is very difficult to know the will of God, or to even understand much about God, without spending time in the Word, both reading and studying. The Bible is God’s revelation of His character, His attributes and how we are to relate to Him. Building our faith is not a passive exercise. Our faith grows through knowledge and experience. First, as we gain knowledge through the Word, solid preaching and good teaching, we gain an inner confidence in the character and abilities of God. It is our confidence in Scripture being the inerrant Word of God that enables us to accept His teachings with confidence. Second, our experience of trusting God enables us to develop confidence in His faithfulness as we daily depend upon Him. This takes time and is really an unending process.

Praying with faith is to trust that God is hearing our prayers and is capable of answering them. If we believe that He hears our prayers, it is reasonable to expect that He will respond to our prayers. The catch is that we most often don’t see the whole picture. We pray and make our requests known to God, but we don’t see the answer we were expecting. Oftentimes our reaction is that God did not respond or that we do not have enough faith. In reality, the answer is something other than what we are looking for and so we do not recognize it as an answer to prayer. It is a matter of God’s purposes as opposed to our preferences.

Legitimate prayers are not commands for God to perform according to the parameters that we set forth. He is God, we are His creation. He is Lord, we are His subjects. A born again Christian has submitted himself or herself to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. A servant does not dictate performance to the master. One example in the Bible is Peter, “From that time Jesus began to show His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised up on the third day. Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him, saying, ‘God forbid it, Lord! This shall never happen to You.’ But He turned and said to Peter, ‘Get behind Me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to Me; for you are not setting your mind on God's interests, but man's.’” (Matthew 16:21-23) Notice the end of the statement, “for you are not setting your mind on God's interests, but man's.” This defines the point of where our focus needs to be.

To realize our position in our relationship with God is to give us the freedom from the pressure to perform when in prayer. He resists the proud but gives grace to the humble. We are to approach God with a humble and contrite heart. Our inability to see God face to face is not an excuse to talk to Him any differently than if we were standing before the very person of Jesus Christ. Meditate on how you would act and talk if you were face to face with Jesus Christ. While we are given the freedom to speak candidly and boldly, we are also to be balanced in reverence and respect. This presents a problem in some churches that follow the “name it, claim it” philosophy. The idea of imposing our will upon God should disturb us at some level. This attitude seems to be in conflict with God saying, “’For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,’ declares the LORD. ‘For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts.” (Isaiah 55:8-9) If God’s statement is true, then how can we claim to have the wisdom to instruct God on the actions that He should take? If it is not true, then we really don’t believe God or God is a liar.

Praying from the heart and making our feelings and perceived needs known to God is a very good thing. Genuine communion is based on complete openness and honesty. An attempt to manipulate the other, in this case God, is extreme selfishness. If we truly believe the ways of God are what is best for us, we can free ourselves from the pressure of wanting things to be only the way we want them to be. It is very liberating to walk with God, following His lead. When we try to lead, we are beating our heads against a wall. We are much better off to seek understanding as we follow Him in obedience than to be arrogantly demanding that He perform according to our desires.

So how much faith is enough faith? How about growing faith? If our faith is not growing, it is stagnating and receding. As we obediently follow Christ, He gives us the faith, through grace, to do whatever He calls us to do. As we take the step of obedience, He walks with us helping us to overcome our fears. This builds our faith and prepares us for the next step in our journey. So the real question becomes, “How obedient are we willing to be?”

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“Lent is a season of soul-searching and repentance. It is a season for reflection and taking stock. Lent originated in the very earliest days of the Church as a preparatory time for Easter, when the faithful rededicated themselves and when converts were instructed in the faith and prepared for baptism. By observing the forty days of Lent, the individual Christian imitates Jesus’ withdrawal into the wilderness for forty days. All churches that have a continuous history extending before AD 1500 observe Lent. The ancient church that wrote, collected, canonized, and propagated the New Testament also observed Lent, believing it to be a commandment from the apostles.”  http://www.kencollins.com/holy-04.htm

As we have entered into the Lenten season, I remember my roots of growing up in a religion that focused on the season with the fasting, the giving up of pleasures and the fish dinner Fridays. Apart from the legalistic attitudes, I remember the training in reverence and self denial. These lessons are well worth paying attention to at any time of year.

Luke 9:22-24 “saying, ‘The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed and be raised up on the third day.’ And He was saying to them all, ‘If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake, he is the one who will save it.’”

The cross we must take up daily is self-denial. We are to crucify the self, putting our selfish desires to death. Daily signifies that it is not a once and done thing, but an ongoing battle. It is a choice of our will. It is a part of each and every decision we make. Our choice is to live for God or to live for ourselves. It is a state of mind to be lived out every day, indeed every moment, as we strive to live by faith allowing the Spirit to lead us, allowing Christ Jesus to live through us.

Titus 2:11-13 “For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men, instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus, “
How much are we distracted by the world? The lust of the eye that breeds desire in the heart lures us away from self-denial and into a lifestyle that is not pleasing to God. Living for pleasures and this temporal world is opposed to the ways of God. Yes, it is a sacrifice to live for God. We are called to sacrifice the self-will daily and live according to the ways of God.

This does not mean that we are never to have pleasures and joy in this world. The reality is that God’s creation is to be enjoyed. The attitudes within us are what matters. Is our heart set on the things of this world or are we simply enjoying them in the course of life. Our heart’s desire is to be the Lord and fellowship with Him. The Gospels provide many warnings about being ensnared by the things of the world.

Fasting and prayer are excellent means for separating our self desires from our spiritual lives. We cannot live successful Christian lives if our desires for the things of this world are allowed to short circuit our spiritual lives. We have been warned that we cannot serve two masters. The self or the Lord; only one can be on the throne over our lives. How, then, ought we to pray? Perhaps it could be something like this.

Dear Father in heaven, I come to You with praise and thanksgiving. You alone are worthy to be seated on the throne above all creation and on the throne of my heart. You alone are the creator of all things and the source of all blessings in my life. You alone are worthy to receive all worship, praise and adoration. I thank You for sending a Savior, Your only begotten Son, Jesus Christ. I thank You for sending Him, in spite of my sinful ways, to redeem me from that sin. It is humbling to know that You have so great a love for me that You would pursue me and draw me to Yourself. I thank You Father for showing me such loving-kindness and tender mercy.

I thank You Jesus for going to the cross to suffer, die and shed Your blood to pay for my sin. It was a price that was not Yours to pay, but You did it anyhow because You loved me. You paid my debt, enabling me to know the joy of Thy salvation, and I am eternally grateful. Help me now to live a life that is pleasing to the Father. Help me to learn your Word and to keep it close to my heart. Please forgive me for my sins, my failures and my shortcomings. Help me to draw closer to you. Help me, Lord, to turn away from the things of this world that have no eternal value. Help me to seek Your will and to do it. Help me to love others as You have loved me.

During this season of Lent, let each of us seek to draw nearer to God with soul-searching and repentance. Let us remember the great sacrifice of the cross that enables us to come before the throne of God with humble and contrite hearts. Then let us rejoice together this Easter season with thanksgiving and praise to God our Creator, who in His great mercy and love, sent a redeemer to deliver us from the wrath of God and the judgment to come into eternal life.

If you are interested in reading more:

Take Up Your Cross, Sermon Notes, John Schaenzer, Comforts of Home, September 20, 2008.

The Season of Lent, Rev. Ken Collins

Catholic Encyclopedia, Lent

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Faith and healing generally walk hand in hand. It can seem as simple as believing that a couple of aspirin will relieve headache pain to the perception that it is a much larger degree of difficulty for God to relieve the pain of a larger malady. The planning has begun for a special corporate prayer time dealing specifically with prayer for those who are seeking a healing from God. Whether it is the headache or something much larger, all healing power flows from God.

This series of articles will deal with faith and healing. I am careful to say faith and healing, rather than faith healing, because I want to make sure to put the focus of both faith and healing in proper perspective.

While faith is necessary in many cases, the object of the faith is critical more so than the “amount” of faith. I suspect that most who are reading this have heard stories of people not being healed with the implication that they lacked a sufficient amount of faith. I believe that this happens when the so called “faith healers”, be they famous or everyday religious folk, fail to see an immediate healing. Rather than have their reputation sullied, the failure is deflected to the one seeking the healing. Now in addition to the original issue, failure and guilt are added to the person. The sense of inadequacy drives the person toward depression and self devaluation. This activity does not build faith nor does it edify a brother or sister in Christ.

Healing can come in many forms. Trusting in the sovereignty of God is of key importance.  When seeking God for relief, or anything for that matter, is it really smart to dictate how that relief should come to us? The body can heal many things with time and the source of that ability is God. Surgeons can fix many things and the source of their talent is God. Doctors can prescribe the correct course of action and the source of their knowledge and wisdom is God. Deliverance can come immediately and the source of that power is God.  Sovereignty means that God can use whatever method and in whatever timing He deems appropriate for the situation. He may even determine that our endurance is what glorifies Him.

We are allowed to experience many trials throughout our lifetime. It is the successful navigation of the rough times that enable us to minister with faith to one another. It is the experience of lingering ailments and the healing that came that enables me to now lead others through the process. Be cautioned, however, that there is not a formula for success 100% of the time. The success is that we went to God and that He answered. Success is not that we received exactly what we wanted in exactly the way we wanted it. We have our role to play in the process, after which we learn the response from a sovereign and holy God. Then our reaction comes down to one simple question, “How much do I trust God?”

The will of God is a tough thing to get a handle on for this type of issue. The will of God is very explicit for our morality and our call to follow Him. Whether deliverance is at hand or endurance and perseverance is His desire is a much more difficult thing to grasp. Every instance is different as we seek Him to do His will and to glorify Him. Again, we have our role or responsibilities and that is all that we have control of in the matter. It is up to us to fulfill our duties and then to trust in Him for what is to follow. We need to receive the answer, whatever it may be, with thanksgiving.

In the upcoming articles we will explore what Scripture has to say about faith, healing and the role we play. We will not put limits on what God is “supposed” to do nor make any promises of such. We will endeavor to build faith and trust in God that He knows what He wants to achieve through our situation.

In the mean time, here is some further reading to help prepare us for this journey. Remember that this is the starting point and there is much ahead of us to be learned. We need to begin by transforming our thought process from seeking a formula to achieve our will, to seeking God and His will for what is happening in our lives.

Read and study, The Epistle of James, especially the last half of chapter 5. Do not miss the lessons of humility in the book because humility is the key to the Christian life. As you read through the last part of chapter 5, be honest in evaluating how seriously we as a church, and each of us individually, have followed this instruction.

To know where I am deriving my experience on the matter in addition to scripture, you can read of my blessings of having been healed. They are not always the dramatic events we build up in our mind or that the faith healers would have us believe.

Read Pray With Expectation in this blog where I recite a healing that God gave to me concerning myofascial pain syndrome.

Read through the section of my forum called, 2008 Road To Recovery. It tells the tale of God working through the complete situation. You may gain some perspective by reading, “Whose Trials Are These?” in the Lessons section.

At the time of this healing, I remember telling people and reciting it on Face Book. I cannot find it now so I will repeat it here. On a Saturday morning late in 2009, I was laying in bed contemplating my day. I raised my right knee pulling my foot up the bed. I instantly felt the tightness of a strained hamstring. I had pulled it earlier in the summer while playing softball and it had never fully healed. The injury was constantly aggravated due to my truck driving job and where the injury was in relation to my truck seat. As I lay in bed trying to gently stretch it out, I thought of all the times I had prayed and asked God for healing. I then asked God, “When is this ever going to heal? Just asking.” Almost immediately I felt the pain melting away. Envision a stick of butter on a plate that is melting. The hard butter is in the middle and the melted butter begins spreading out across the plate away from the stick. That is how the back of my leg felt. In a few minutes the tightness was completely eradicated. I did some stretching to make sure and I did a few chores that I knew had aggravated the injury in the past. The issue was gone. I’ve been thanking and praising God ever since that morning.

Begin seeking God and His will for your situation. Pray with passion. Pray with expectation. Ask Him to show you what He wants to accomplish in you and through you with the situation. Ask yourself if you truly trust Him and if you really believe Romans 8:28.

“And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.”

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One point of anxiety for almost every Christian is family, friends and neighbors that do not know Christ. How to reach them with the gospel is the question at hand. The simple answer is to talk to them, but the real work is the sometimes years of prayer, interceding on their behalf.

Effective prayer begins with passion. First is passion for lost souls. Having a desire to see people transformed by the power of God as they submit to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. After the initial excitement of the cleansed feeling for a new Christian wanes, prayer is necessary for rejuvenation.  Even the desire to see others come to the Lord is prompted by the Holy Spirit. If you do not currently possess this passion, pray that God would light the fire within you. Second is a passion for prayer itself. Without a heartfelt desire to pray, odds are against regular and effective prayer time.

With the passion for souls, praying with emotion and a sense of purpose comes more naturally. As with all prayer time, commitment and follow through is the truly tough part. We all struggle to do what we know we should do and what we know is good to do. It’s not that we don’t want to. It’s just that making the time to do it usually falls prey to the chaos of our busy lives. Determination to pray is something we must have. We need to do it on purpose because it will not happen by accident.

Passion provides the emotion to plead for someone before the throne of God. Sense of purpose causes us to schedule our prayer time to intercede on behalf of others. What remains is knowledge which is where the Word of God comes into play. Prayers from the heart are good to express our deepest desires to God. Praying with knowledge attunes us to the will of God. Praying in harmony with God is much greater than praying our will to God. This knowledge comes from spending time in the Scripture which is where we learn about God, both his character and His will.

We learn from the words of Jesus Christ that the Father draws the lost to the Son.

John 6:37 “All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will certainly not cast out.”

John 6:44 “No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up on the last day.”

John 6:45 “It is written in the prophets, 'AND THEY SHALL ALL BE TAUGHT OF GOD.' Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father, comes to Me.”

John 6:65 “And He was saying, ‘For this reason I have said to you, that no one can come to Me unless it has been granted him from the Father.’”

Armed with this knowledge, we can now see how we ought to pray. The proper prayer is to seek grace from the Father, that He would draw the lost to Jesus Christ so they would be able to know the joy of salvation.

One of the subtle deceptions in the church today is that the lost are seeking God. The errant teaching of the so called God-shaped hole in our hearts leads one to believe that God completes us somehow. Certainly our spirits are reborn as the Holy Spirit indwells us, but we in no way become part God. The indwelling of God and His power enable us to do His will in submission to Him. The teaching supposedly causes people to want to receive Christ into their hearts. This, along with trying to convince people to accept Christ, as if that action of the will can provide salvation, gives sinners a sense of control of their own destiny. This view that we choose to be saved puts ourselves above God whereas we should be humbled and thankful that God indeed showed mercy upon us by calling us to Himself. Submission to Christ and the will of God is really the key to salvation. Therefore our prayers should be that the Father would provide a humble spirit to the one for whom we are praying and that they would submit themselves to the Lordship of Jesus Christ.

Romans 3:11

THERE IS NONE WHO UNDERSTANDS,
         THERE IS NONE WHO SEEKS FOR GOD;

Psalm 14

    ¹The fool has said in his heart, "There is no God "
         They are corrupt, they have committed abominable deeds;
         There is no one who does good.     ²The LORD has looked down from heaven upon the sons of men
         To see if there are any who understand,
         Who seek after God.     ³They have all turned aside, together they have become corrupt;
         There is no one who does good, not even one.

So our prayers to the Father are these:

• The Father would send sowers of the Word, even us.
• The Father would send those who would water.
• The Father would soften their hearts and draw them to the Son.
• The Father would send workers for the harvest.
• The Father would cause them to humble themselves before Jesus Christ.
• The Father would cause them to submit to Jesus Christ as Lord.
• The Lord would receive them with grace and mercy so they would know the joy of salvation.

Our only real choice is whether or not we will submit to His Lordship. Our obedience to His call to follow Him leads to salvation. Our desire to maintain control, trying to do it our own way, leads to destruction.

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The church service this past Sunday was concluded with a time of prayer. There were six stations with prayer cards, each on a different topic. The common denominator for them was outreach. A common theme at our church is to reach out to the unchurched with the gospel and reasons to attend a church. This particular Sunday service revolved around that topic.

Station one dealt with communion. First the sacrament was considered and the elements were present for those who wished to partake in communion. This is done in remembrance of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross for our redemption from the penalty of sin. We also considered communion with Christ, that being walking with Him and following Him. He is our Lord and we are called to be obedient to His calling upon our lives.

Station two considered our church family. The concept of the Body of Christ as a family is strong in the Bible and we take it seriously. The church family needs to be nurtured and encouraged in order to operate efficiently in working for the kingdom. This is seen clearly in the following points from our church vision statement.

Bullet 3:    Effective preaching of God’s Word.  (2 Timothy 4:1-2)
Effective preaching helps us all grow closer to God.  It is also evangelistic in explaining the gospel and in motivating visitors to return.  We want to have our preaching time be an interesting, thought provoking time where God’s word changes people’s lives.  We want people to grow in their knowledge of God as they grow in their understanding of His word.
Bullet 4:    Facilitating spiritual growth in the body nurtured by a strong relational environment.  (Hebrews 10:24-25)
We wish to see spiritual growth in the body and believe that having strong, trusting relationships with guidance, encouragement and support is an effective way to facilitate this.  This also helps unchurched people become part of the church community.  We want to have a high percent of people in small groups, have many that have a discipleship partner, and have numerous fellowship events - all to promote spiritual growth.

Station three concentrated on Praise & Thanksgiving. This topic is very important in living the Christian life and equally important in entering into the presence of God. The focus is transferred from ourselves to God on whom we depend. Combined with praise, thanksgiving places my attention on the One who deserves my worship. It takes self off the throne of my life and puts Christ in His rightful place. Communion with God is where I enter into His rest and receive a peace in my spirit that only He can give. This is where I can lay my troubles at His feet and ask Him for comfort through them and wisdom to resolve them.

Station four spoke to outreach itself. As a church, our vision statement includes three points.

Bullet 5:    Continuous growth over the next 5 years.  (Matthew 28:19-20)
Growth is a key indicator of church health.  By growing, we have more resources to reach lost people and to edify our church body.  We desire to meet the need for a contemporary evangelical church in the growing area of East Blaine.
Bullet 6:    Purposefully reach out in God’s love to those who are not currently part of a church family.  (Matthew 9:37-38)
It is to our spiritual gain and our responsibility to reach out in God’s love to those who are not attending church.  We want to have a culture of evangelism at Cornerstone by equipping people to make an impact for Christ in their circles and by being creative in going out to intentionally reach people for Christ in our community.  We desire to see 150 people who are not currently part of a church family attend Cornerstone within the next 5 years.
Bullet 7:    One church plant in the next 5 years.  (Acts 1:13-20)
We value reaching the unchurched in communities near and far by being the point church in providing resources (our people, time and money) to help start like-minded evangelical churches.

Where these may appear on the surface to be a benefit to the church growth, the attitude of the church is to spread the gospel for the salvation of souls. Listed at station four were the upcoming outreach events for the members to pray for and participate in.

Station five was titled, Make It Personal. It concerned family, friends, neighbors and co-workers. There were a number of questions to consider, such as: Do others in my life clearly understand the gospel message? Does my lifestyle reflect my profession of faith? Part two suggested opportunities that could be watched for in order to display and share our faith.

Station six dealt with having a heart for non-believers. Evangelism is the core source of saved souls and church growth. In a day of church growth seminars, seeker sensitive services and gimmicks for drawing people into a church service or function, nothing is as real as personal evangelism. If we are obedient to the call to evangelize, by word and lifestyle, the church growth will take care of itself.

Our godly lifestyle reinforces the preaching of the Word. One of the most common objections to Christianity is the charge of hypocrisy. Consistent, holy living is both pleasing to God and beneficial to the gospel message.

How do we act when the chips are down? People may hear what we say and may even remember what we say. But when we are in trouble or our backs are to the wall, they will be watching to see if our reactions are consistent with our preaching or if we fall in line with the ways of the world. This is our test for them to see if we really trust God.

In whose power are we living out the Word? Are we trying to live godly lives in our own power, or in the power of the Holy Spirit? We can try and we can press harder, but in our own power we are doomed to failure. We are called to live by faith and follow the leading of the Holy Spirit. We learn the will of God by spending time reading Scripture. The Holy Spirit teaches us the things of God and prompts us to do the right thing. Are we obedient to do the right thing when we see it? God prepares our opportunities for us.

Ephesians 2:10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.

There is no need to look too hard. Simply keep the eyes open and obey the prompting of the Holy Spirit.

Following is a copy of a blog I came across. It is one of our members and I asked her if I could use this for the article. Is her response typical in our church? Well, I do know that each time we have done this at the end of the service, the participation was very high. I did more observing this time since I had already prayed over these items during their preparation. The people appeared to be focused and sincere. It was a very good thing to do.

Sunday, January 10, 2010

100 Days of Joy

Day 5-Today I found joy in a church that prays together!
Today at church our sermon was on prayer and at the end of the service there were 6 stations set up with different opportunities for prayer, ending with communion. We've done this once before and I love it. First I think it's great that my church see's the importance of practical application and also what a great way to come together as a body!

http://nohighchairs.blogspot.com/

What was your reaction to this event? Please leave a comment. Your response may be very encouraging to others. A pdf file on the actual prayer stations can be viewed or downloaded at:

(Link not working - will update when fixed)

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Where He Is
December 29, 2009

"Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest." (Matthew 11:28) That sounds interesting and comforting, but how does it work? The key may be in the first three words, "Come to me". Do I go to the place where God is? Do I enter into His presence?

Five days ago on Christmas Eve, great joy was brought to my heart and soul as all 4 of my daughters were at my home with my wife and me. This event would have been taken for granted not too many years ago, but now with their ages ranging from early to late twenties, the complete family gathering is more difficult to orchestrate. They were each individually willing to take the time to come to where I was. They each used the opportunity to love me and to converse with me. We all exchanged gifts and spent time together that evening.

Likewise, I need to approach the throne of God, entering into His presence, with thanksgiving and praise. Thanksgiving is important on different levels. Giving thanks puts me in a position of acknowledging His provision for me. I recognize my total dependence upon Him for even my next breath. As the recipient of all He has given to me, it is incumbent upon me to be grateful.

Thanksgiving also begins the removal of self-centeredness. Combined with praise, it places my attention on the One who is deserving of worship. It takes self off the throne of my life and puts Christ in His rightful place. Communion with God is where I enter into His rest and receive a peace in my spirit that only He can give. This is where I can lay my troubles at His feet and ask Him for comfort through them and wisdom to resolve them. In His presence I can speak plainly and openly about whatever is on my mind.

Yesterday, our family buried my grandmother at age 92. Although there were many smiles, even laughs, as the relatives visited and caught up with one another, there was little joy. The somber funeral service was little more than a series of religious prayers and responses. The body language of most of the attendees projected a feeling of discomfort. There seemed to be a lack of hope. Although we were gathered at a church for the service, did we really go to the place that God was? Physically we were at the building referred to as the "House of God". But what about emotionally and mentally? I suspect thoughts were more on the deceased and self as the relationships came to an end. This is not totally abnormal or unexpected, but as believers, shouldn't we take our grief to the throne of grace and lay our burdens at the feet of Jesus Christ?

The service was the traditional ritual of the religion. God was asked to have mercy on the deceased and she was declared to have been a good person deserving of mercy because she had been saved through baptism into the faith. I have never been to a funeral of this type that did not declare, or at least imply, that the deceased was heaven bound. Selected verses from Scripture were used and it all sounded very religious. Was the whole of the Gospel declared? I do not believe so. The service may have been comforting to the immediate family in a time of grief and mourning, but was it God honoring? Was there a genuine message of the hope of salvation for those in attendance?

Approximately six weeks ago, I attended the funeral of a friend. He was a Christian man in his early 50's and died suddenly from a heart attack. The funeral service began with songs of worship and praise to God. It celebrated my friend's life and a number of people spoke about how he touched the lives of others. God was glorified by the stories of how my friend lived his life and of his godly character. The Gospel message of being saved by grace through faith was declared to those who attended. Hope for eternal life was offered.

These events provoked me to think about my relationship with God. Do I go to God to spend time and by doing so, bring joy to my Lord? As in the Christmas Eve story, I need to make the time to go to God and to spend time visiting. Things are not perfect in my family, in fact, they are actually messy at times. Likewise, God is not waiting for my perfection in life. I need to go to Him with my messes and all that I am. As in any relationship, it only grows with time and communication.

The funeral stories showed me the contrast of the hope that is in Christianity with the lack of hope for those who have not put Jesus Christ on the throne of their lives. I need to determine that my relationship with God is not merely an exercise of ritual, but that it is going to be an active, lively pursuit of God that looks forward with hope and anticicpation. My prayer life and daily walk with the Lord cannot be dead in form, rather, it needs to be alive in substance.

So how is my prayer life? Do I have a thriving relationship with God, or does it need some work? Am I operating in dead religious activity, or do I have a vibrant hope due to trust in my Savior? "Come to Me", He says. Jesus Christ makes Himself available to whosoever will come. As in every other area of Christianity, I must make the conscious decision to be active. There is no room for passivity. There is always a choice to be made. Actively seeking God through prayer is how I go to where He is. I would do well to memorize Psalm 100 and use it as a framework for my daily prayer life.

"Shout joyfully to the LORD, all the earth. Serve the LORD with gladness; come before Him with joyful singing. Know that the LORD Himself is God; it is He who has made us, and not we ourselves; we are His people and the sheep of His pasture. Enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise. Give thanks to Him, bless His name. For the LORD is good; His loving-kindness is everlasting and His faithfulness to all generations."

I go to God with thanksgiving and praise both to begin and to end my day. I know I find my rest in Him. I can live each day content knowing that He is with me and will provide all that I need. He not only provides what I need to live, He also provides the opportunity to serve Him. And what He calls me to do, He will provide the means for me to do it as well as the grace to endure. As I lay down to sleep, I give thanks for at least four things from the day. When I do so, I have no problem sleeping without anxiety. The first of the four is easy. It is always for the beautiful woman next to me that He has used to bless me in so many ways. Some nights it is hard to be truly thankful for four things without resorting to the trite things in daily life. There are days where I need to ponder and give thanks for trials. Thanks for the growth I hope to experience going through them and the hope that someone else will be blessed or encouraged be seeing them. Trials also enable me to empathize and minister comfort to others when it is their time to experience similar difficulties in life.

The interesting thing about thanksgiving and praise is that it can only be truly given by going to Him. It cannot be mailed in and be genuine at the same time. It must be personal and deliberate. True thanksgiving cannot ring hollow. There must be substance to it that engages me mentally and emotionally. When I go to where He is, I experience His rest, His comfort and His very presence.

Hebrews 4:15-16 "For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin. Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need."

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In the summer of 1985, a manufacturer’s representative company employed me as a salesman. The story of getting the job was unique to my experiences and caused me to believe that I was where the Lord wanted me to be. I was a new Christian that summer, having repented and submitted myself to Christ the previous February. It is fair to say that I was new to walking with God and the leading of the Holy Spirit, so I should not beat myself up over missing opportunities at that time. Almost twenty-five years later now, the event is still so clear in my memory that I know I missed out on what God was wanting me to do on that early summer day.

My job was both in and out of the office and in the summer months I would go to a park for lunch. I would read a book or listen to the radio if the timing was right for the programs I wanted to hear. That particular day I was sitting in my car eating and reading at a park next to Medicine Lake. I noticed a man down by the beach, perhaps fifty yards from where I was parked. He was nervously pacing back and forth as though he was quite troubled by something. What I believed then, and still believe to this day, was that the Holy Spirit was nudging me to go talk to the man. “Tell him about Christ” was the prodding I was sensing. For the better part of the thirty minutes that I was there I was resisting the urge to talk to the man. My lunchtime expired and so did the opportunity as I drove away.

In hindsight, it would have been so easy to walk over to the man and say something such as, “You appear to be troubled by something. Is there anything you would like me to pray about for you?” Why did I fear rejection so badly that I could not make a simple offer to pray for a man that appeared so obviously in need of God’s help that day. The worst that could happen, really, would be for him to decline the offer. “Mind your own business” could be the response. After all, isn’t that what society would like us to do? Isn’t that what Satan would like us to do? It is the polar opposite of what Christ would have us do. We are to share the love of God and what better way is there to do that than to show concern for someone who is struggling. Every time I looked up from what I was reading it seemed as though the man was looking straight at my car as though he was waiting for help to arrive. It never did. His hope was in vain. I let him down and I believe I disobeyed God. I thwarted the leading of the Holy Spirit. I had to repent, ask forgiveness and learn from the experience.

I was thinking about that story a few weeks ago as I was walking away from an encounter with a man at a Burger King restaurant. While we were waiting for our food we became engaged in conversation. He was telling me about his knee problems for which he had just visited the clinic. Near the end of the conversation he was telling me about having to go to a clinic for a sleep study for apnea, a condition that I have. If ever there was a chance for empathy, this was it. As we parted ways in the parking lot, I told him that I would pray for him whenever the Lord brought him to mind. As I climbed into my truck I wondered, why did I not offer to pray for him and with him right there? I was more focused on my desire to get my lunch and get back on the road than to taking two minutes to allow the Lord to offer the man comfort and hope. Revealed to me that day was where I was at in being aware of opportunities God has for us. I have prayed for that man many times as I recall the encounter and the missed opportunity.

I have often times preached that we don’t need to go out looking for opportunities to do good works because God puts them right in our path if we will just pay attention. “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.” Ephesians 2:10. God has prepared good works for me to walk in. Am I paying attention so as to notice when they pop up in front of me? After so many years, how can I still be oblivious to the opportunities around me?

A couple weeks ago, a friend from church had to take his daughter to the emergency room. After church that day I had stopped at that hospital to see my wife who works there. I was unsure which hospital my friend had gone to, but I followed the impulse to check the waiting room and emergency room before I left. My wife led me through a maze and I found myself in the area where patients were being treated as she looked for our friend to see if his daughter was being treated. We found the family in the waiting room as we exited the area that I probably shouldn’t have been in. After a short visit gathering information to send out on the prayer chain, I expressed my desire to leave. My friend then asked me if I would pray for his daughter before I left. Do you think it crossed my mind to offer to pray for her, and the family, right then and there? No, he had to ask me. Perhaps it was a step of faith for him to speak up and ask that will aid in his spiritual growth, but from my perspective it was another blunder on my part as I was prepared to walk away. I have to wonder how I can be thinking about God and the power of prayer, be gathering information for the notice on the prayer chain, and still be so blind to the opportunity to pray with fellow believers at the very point of their need. Sometimes my ignorance just boggles my mind. The family was thankful that I took the time to visit and that I was willing to pray for their daughter. I left wondering how I was so blind.

For all of these types of stories that I could share, I can also share stories where I did not falter. For example, yesterday at Comforts of Home some members of our church provided some Christmas music for the residents of the assisted living home. I had noticed that Hazel had gotten up and moved away from the crowd. I went to her and asked how she was feeling. I mentioned that it appeared as though she was fighting allergies or something. She said that she had a cough and felt as though she was disturbing those around her. I offered to pray with her and she anxiously agreed. After I finished the prayer, she gave me an appreciative hug. The folks that live there highly value the personal attention from our visits.

As believers and followers of Christ, we are called to be a testimony to His love to all that we encounter in this world. What easier way to express His love than to take a minute to pray with someone? I have a hard time thinking of someone in need who has ever refused my offer to pray for him or her. There is no need for elaborate prayers or flowery verbiage. All that is needed is a heart felt request for God to intervene in the situation. My fear of rejection will never go away, but as I walk closer with God, it can be overcome. I don’t believe anyone walks in such boldness to be able to engage a stranger without some anxiousness. Those who appear to be able to do so easily have just taken the first step that led to the second step. Each step, each time, builds our faith and our trust that God is with us when we look at others rather than ourselves. Prayer for others is the perfect opportunity to share the love of Christ with them and it provides opportunities for us to share the Gospel. This is one way we can store up treasures in heaven.

Lord, help me to open my eyes to the needs of others and the opportunities you provide for me to interact in their lives. Help me to look past the tasks of my daily life and be a blessing on your behalf to the hurting people in this world. Help me to be able to lay my head down at night offering thanksgiving for the blessings I received in following the leading of the Holy Spirit rather than the regrets of my self-centeredness. Help me to truly follow you and to do as you did and to do as you would do.

Brandon Heath Give Me Your Eyes

Look down from a broken sky
Traced out by the city lights
My world from a mile high
Best seat in the house tonight

Touch down on the cold black top
Hold on for the sudden stop
Breath in the familiar shock
Of confusion and chaos

All those people going somewhere
Why have I never cared

Give me your eyes for just one second
Give me your eyes so I can see
Everything that I keep missing
Give me your love for humanity
Give me your arms for the broken hearted
The ones that are far beyond my reach
Give me you heart for the ones forgotten
Give me your eyes so I can see

Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah

Step out on a busy street
See a girl and our eyes meet
Does her best to smile at me
To hide what's underneath

There's a man just to her right
Too ashamed to tell his wife
He's out of work, He's buying time

Pre Chorus / Chorus

I've been here a million times
A couple of million eyes
Just move and pass me by
I swear I never thought that I was wrong
I need a second glance
Give me a second chance
To see the way you've seen the people all along

Chorus

(Listing of prayer articles.)

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In continuing with a series of sermons I am giving on prayer, I am exploring what it is to pray in a humble fashion. Is it important, or even required to be humble in our prayers? Do we have the authority to be demanding and expect our prayers to be answered in the fashion that we desire? As Christians, we should always hold to the standard that God sets forth in Scripture. We can begin our exploration of the topic with these thoughts.

Humble Prayer
Comforts of Home
November 28, 2009


I am a humble man and very proud of it. The foolishness of this statement should be obvious. If I am proud enough to declare my humility, I deceive myself, as my humility is not genuine. Such is the dilemma with striving to be a humble person. If I seek to produce humility in myself, odds are I will fail because I will then take credit for the transformation, thereby negating the humility with my pride. True humility is produced within us, not by us. One example of humility in prayer comes from the book of Daniel.

Daniel 10:12 “Then he said to me, ‘Do not be afraid, Daniel, for from the first day that you set your heart on understanding this and on humbling yourself before your God, your words were heard, and I have come in response to your words.’”

Daniel had set his heart on understanding. In other words, he was seeking the truth. Daniel also humbled himself before God. What does this mean that he humbled himself? The dictionary says to humble is to lower in condition, importance, or dignity. And to destroy the independence, power, or will of.

Two to three years earlier, Daniel “observed in the books the number of the years which was revealed as the word of the LORD to Jeremiah the prophet for the completion of the desolations of Jerusalem, namely, seventy years.” Daniel 9:3-4a goes on to say, “So I gave my attention to the Lord God to seek Him by prayer and supplications, with fasting, sackcloth and ashes. I prayed to the LORD my God and confessed and said”. Daniel goes on to confess the sins on behalf of Israel. He does so while lowering his own condition, importance, or dignity and destroying his own independence.

The object of Daniel’s prayer was the deliverance of his people that had been in captivity. He entered into prayer of confession and humbled himself before God. Daniel alone was not the concern of the prayer he engaged in. This time of prayer was dedicated to and focused upon the people of Israel. He considered himself only insofar as he was part of the group. He was so focused on the suffering of Israel that it was described as mourning.

Daniel 10:2 “In those days, I, Daniel, had been mourning for three entire weeks.”

Daniel was focused and persistent. He was seeking truth and he stuck with it. He “observed in the books the number of the years” and he believed what he read. He trusted the Word of God to be true. This belief fueled his persistence as he sought God for understanding and clarification. Anyone who has fasted will know that 3 weeks worth takes quite a bit of dedication. It has been my experience, and this is just me, that when I fast as a ritual, focusing on the act of fasting, it is very difficult to get through. In that circumstance I am very distracted by hunger. However, when I am focused on the object of my prayer, the purpose of the fast, and upon seeking God for wisdom and understanding, I seldom experience hunger pangs until the end of the period of fasting. This has proven true for me whether the fast has been one, three or ten days. As we see in verse three, Daniel made sure the focus was not on him by denying himself for the appointed time of fasting and prayer.

Daniel 10:3 “I did not eat any tasty food, nor did meat or wine enter my mouth, nor did I use any ointment at all until the entire three weeks were completed.”

Now let’s not mistake the length of time as the key to moving God to respond to our prayers. While he fasted for three weeks, we read in verse 12, “from the first day that you set your heart on understanding this and on humbling yourself before your God, your words were heard, and I have come in response to your words.” Our activities and demands do not force God to act or respond. God knew the heart of Daniel as he mourned for the captive Israel and sought God for truth in the matter of the length of time they were to remain in Babylon and Persia.

We see in chapter 9 that the answer came in dramatic fashion.

Daniel 9:20-23 “Now while I was speaking and praying, and confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel, and presenting my supplication before the LORD my God in behalf of the holy mountain of my God, while I was still speaking in prayer, then the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision previously, came to me in my extreme weariness about the time of the evening offering. He gave me instruction and talked with me and said, ‘O Daniel, I have now come forth to give you insight with understanding. At the beginning of your supplications the command was issued, and I have come to tell you, for you are highly esteemed; so give heed to the message and gain understanding of the vision.’”

While we may never receive answers to our prayers in such dramatic fashion, we can expect answers to our prayers. The last time I was here, I spoke about effective prayer and gave a couple of examples of answered prayer. The on was about my realization of my salvation and the other on related to a healing I had received. I also explored how we determine the effectiveness of our prayer. We don’t decide whether the prayer was effective based upon receiving the answer that we want, rather, we know our prayer was effective by the fact that God answered it based upon His will and His knowledge of the situation. And again, we know that God hears our prayers and has the answer for us. We cannot dictate the timing in which it is revealed to us and so we continue to persistently pray.
The advantage we have today is that we have the Bible, the Word of God. Oftentimes when we are seeking God’s will we fail to spend time searching His word for the principles that apply to the subject of our prayer. If we were to do so, we would need to lay ourselves aside and focus on God’s truth. We give up control by submitting ourselves to Him. We also give up the demands for the answers we want and replace them with the desire for God’s will to be done. It is the pride within our sinful nature that causes us to resist sin and to submit to God and His truth.

In these chapters in the Book of Daniel we learn many things about prayer. He was moved by the Word to pray and fast. When was the last time that we allowed the conviction of Scripture to move us to repentance and prayer? Do we really take the Bible seriously and believe that God is communicating His truth with us? What a shame it is that we leave the Bible on the shelf all too often while we worry and fret about the struggles in our lives. Can we not even humble ourselves to the point of acknowledging that God has wisdom and understanding beyond our own and to seek it out? Perhaps we are resistant to seeking God’s plan because we don’t want to give up control or the power to do what we want to do. It is a very difficult thing for our prideful selves to participate in submission to God.

Next we must question our fervency and persistence. Is there an intensity and zeal that drives us to see things through? Do we stay at it until we are convinced of God’s response to our prayer? I believe this is easier to do when God lays something on our heart rather than our own desires seeking out answers to bless ourselves. Being responsive to the Scripture or to the leading of the Holy Spirit enables us to team up with God rather than to pursue Him in an adversarial role. To do so requires submission on our part and humility to follow His will rather than our own. We see this in the self-denial in the act of fasting. I am of the belief that to fast for fasting sake alone is to merely go hungry. Fasting is an effective spiritual activity when we humble ourselves before God.

We see that Daniel was unselfishly identified with God’s people. Do we put others ahead of our own desires or demands? If we are part of the group, are we truly putting the group ahead of ourselves? The confession of our sins, both corporate and individual, enables us to move beyond our selfish desires and to put God and others in the forefront of our thoughts and prayers. Self-centeredness needs to removed from the picture if we are to approach God in humility. We need to trust in God and His character. He is holy and perfect in knowledge and wisdom whereas we are filled with flaws and self-deception. Our goal must be to glorify God by seeking and doing His will.

The Bible is filled with examples of God calling upon His people to humble themselves and call upon Him. Another passage is 2 Chronicles 7:11-16. “Thus Solomon finished the house of the LORD and the king's palace, and successfully completed all that he had planned on doing in the house of the LORD and in his palace. Then the LORD appeared to Solomon at night and said to him, ‘I have heard your prayer and have chosen this place for Myself as a house of sacrifice. If I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or if I command the locust to devour the land, or if I send pestilence among My people, and My people who are called by My name humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, will forgive their sin and will heal their land. Now My eyes will be open and My ears attentive to the prayer offered in this place. For now I have chosen and consecrated this house that My name may be there forever, and My eyes and My heart will be there perpetually.’”

We see here that humbling themselves was a pre-condition for God hearing their prayer. God was not interested so much in the action of praying as He was in the condition of their hearts. Is it any different with us?  The first ten verses of the fourth chapter of the Book of James instruct us to this end.

“What is the source of quarrels and conflicts among you? Is not the source your pleasures that wage war in your members? You lust and do not have; so you commit murder. You are envious and cannot obtain; so you fight and quarrel. You do not have because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures. You adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. Or do you think that the Scripture speaks to no purpose: ‘He jealously desires the Spirit which He has made to dwell in us’? But He gives a greater grace Therefore it says, ‘GOD IS OPPOSED TO THE PROUD, BUT GIVES GRACE TO THE HUMBLE.’ Submit therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Be miserable and mourn and weep; let your laughter be turned into mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves in the presence of the Lord, and He will exalt you.”

Conflicts and quarrels are not the result of seeking God in humility. Murder is the ultimate manifestation of selfish desires and sinfulness. I must humble myself and seek God or I may not receive what I am seeking. Am I humbling myself or am I seeking God with wrong motives to fulfill my pleasures in selfish gratification of my desires? Am I spiritually unfaithful, seeking the ways of the world instead of the ways of God? I have no right to expect God to hear my prayers, much less respond to them if all the while I am serving myself by following the ways of the world rather than living a godly life. As it asks in verse 4, “do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God?” Scripture has a purpose, which is to convey the truths of God to us including the truth that God gives grace to the humble.
Our salvation lies within the grace of God. We are to submit to God’s authority. We are to resist the devil as we submit to God. We are to confess our sinfulness to God, purifying our hearts before Him. We cannot be double minded, serving both God and self, or the devil. Being miserable, mourning and weeping would be the natural outcropping from our realization of our sinfulness and separation from God as we seek His forgiveness. Humbling ourselves is to make ourselves low as we realize we are in the presence of the one true infinitely majestic and holy God, our Creator.
I close with a passage from The Gospel According To John, chapter 6, verses 35 through 40.
“Jesus said to them, ‘I am the bread of life; he who comes to Me will not hunger, and he who believes in Me will never thirst. But I said to you that you have seen Me, and yet do not believe. All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will certainly not cast out. For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me. This is the will of Him who sent Me, that of all that He has given Me I lose nothing, but raise it up on the last day. For this is the will of My Father, that everyone who beholds the Son and believes in Him will have eternal life, and I Myself will raise him up on the last day.’”

Are we humbling ourselves before the Lord Jesus Christ so we may be raised up on the last day? We must examine ourselves to be sure that we are humbling ourselves before Him. We must even ask Him for the grace to be truly humble and not self-deceived. If we ask God to reveal the truth to us, He is faithful to do so. Cry out to God for His mercy and grace while there is still time to do so.

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Are you interested in helping Cornerstone Church of Blaine achieve it's vision?

Bullet 2:    A praying church.  (Ephesians 6:18)
We desire to be a church filled with people who are dependent upon God through prayer as opposed to being self-reliant.   Self-reliance is more akin to pride whereas dependence upon God honors Him.  This spirit of dependence is portrayed in how people pray.  We desire to be a church where individuals have a vibrant prayer life where prayer is saturated through all of our meetings and where corporate prayer is well attended.  We would like to be “a house of prayer!”

The Prayer Committee is forming to discuss ideas on fulfilling this point in our church vision. The plan is to meet two or three times during the year and to communicate less formally throughout the year. Our first gathering will be on Saturday, December 5th. We will meet at 9:00am and the meeting is expected to last approximately 90 minutes. Please join us and put your ideas to work for the glory of God as we strengthen the Body of Christ, the Church.

Contact John Schaenzer for more information on the meeting agenda, location or other questions. jdshnzr@yahoo.com

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My last post was sermon notes on Heard Prayer. I am following that up with sermon notes for my visit to Comforts of Home on this coming Saturday. This one is about Effective Prayer. Again, this is not an exhaustive study, but I trust it will be good for pondering and assisting you in exploring the topic.

Effective Prayer
Comforts of Home
November 14, 2009


The last time I was here, I spoke about prayer that God heard. I used the verse from James as a jumping off point. James 5:16b “The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much.” I also pointed out John 9:31 which says, “We know that God does not hear sinners; but if anyone is God-fearing and does His will, He hears him.” These same verses are also a good place to start when considering effective prayer. I think you would agree that the first thing for prayer to be effective is that God hears it. So recalling that it is the prayer of the righteous that is heard, and being righteous is to be God-fearing and obedient to the will of God, I must discover the will of God and live a holy life.

Discovering the will of God is key here and it often seems like the most daunting of tasks. How do I discern the will of God? James continued on with a story from 1 Kings about the prophet Elijah and how he prayed and it did not rain for three and a half years, then he prayed again and the sky poured rain. I would say that Elijah knew the will of God. In fact, by looking back at the story, it says, “Now it happened after many days that the word of the LORD came to Elijah in the third year, saying, ‘Go, show yourself to Ahab, and I will send rain on the face of the earth.’” One way to know the will of God is to have God speak it to us directly, but this is rare for we are not prophets such as Elijah was. But let’s keep in mind that James began the story saying, “Elijah was a man with a nature like ours”, thereby encouraging us that God can use us to perform His will just as He did Elijah.

I cannot stand before you and say that I have ever audibly heard the voice of God, however, there have been instances where I believe that He has spoken to me very clearly. The first instance was about one month after my conversion on a beautiful spring day. I was on the deck of our Bismark, ND apartment reading a book. I believe it was "The Cost of Discipleship" by Dietrich Bonhoffer. Like a bolt, it dawned on me. It was as if someone had just said to me, "Not only have you not drank or smoked for the past month, but you haven't even had the desire to." It wasn’t thoughts that I constructed as in the preparing of this sermon or if we were having a conversation. It was like a paragraph or sentences had been implanted whole into my mind. It was quicker than, but just as real as if you spoke the words to me right now. It was so real that in response I flushed the pot down the toilet and poured the scotch down the drain of the kitchen sink.

Another instance was in response to prayer. I would have to say that it was effective prayer. One day while praying, kneeling at the foot of my bed, I believe God revealed a plan to me to answer my prayers. I just knew it all at once. It was not something that I sat around conjuring up in my mind. It was in my mind all at once, all of a sudden. I was to go on vacation the following week just as I had planned to do and I was to enjoy it. That part seemed odd to me, but if God wanted me to follow through on my vacation plans, then why not enjoy it? God is good. I was to fast and pray for the week following my return home. I was to repent and work on a couple of issues that I had allowed to gain a foothold in my life. The sinfulness was separating me from God and from living for Him. I was to then call upon the elders for prayer. I did it all just as I believed I was instructed. I fasted, prayed and repented after one of the best vacations our family had ever enjoyed. Sunday came and I must confess that doubts began to press in. Was it really instruction from God or did I make it up in my own mind? It was the same temptation as it was in the Garden of Eden. Did God really say…? I figured that I had nothing to lose and everything to gain by asking the elders to pray for me. I went forward during the prayer time, confessed my sin and asked for prayer. I received prayer and encouragement and returned to my seat. There were no electric feelings or supernatural words or anything other than ordinary men talking with one another and God. Later that evening, my wife asked me if I had taken my drugs. I responded that I didn’t believe that I needed them anymore. She reminded me of what waited the next day if I didn’t take them. I just had a calm assurance that I no longer needed the drugs. The next day was mild discomfort and as the days passed, my body returned to life without that pain that I had endured for so long. It was only because of the mercy and goodness of God and obedience to the Word in conjunction with His will.

I believe the key to that healing was knowing the Word of God and acting upon it. James 1:22 instructs us, “But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves.” Hearing and knowing the Word of God is good, but to live it and perform it is where the power of the living God is brought to life. Without taking action, my faith in the Word was fairly useless. To step out and follow the instruction of the Word was the act that allowed God to demonstrate His power in my life. Being obedient to the will of God requires decisiveness and action on our part. We must first decide to believe and then we must act upon that belief which breathes life into our faith.

The adjective, effective, has a pretty simple definition. It is, adequate to accomplish a purpose. Adequate is a word that always strikes me as less than best. It is defined, as much or as good as necessary for some requirement or purpose. In pondering this definition, I realize that God never expects more from us than what is necessary to accomplish the purpose. There is no need for excessive flare and drama as if we were presenting something on Broadway. No, He expects us to do what is necessary. Both words include in the definitions the word purpose. When I pray, do I really consider the purpose? Purpose is defined as the reason for which something exists or is done, made, used, etc. What is the real purpose, or reason behind my prayer? Is my prayer selfish in nature or is it something that would be pleasing to God? I’m not necessarily talking about the act so much as the attitude. Where praying for personal healing may seem a selfish act, what is the state of the heart while praying?
The answer to “What is effective prayer?” is the same as the answer to “Why am I here?” and “What is the purpose of life?”. It is simply, to glorify God. Glorify, another word not often used in our daily conversation.  To glorify God is to treat Him as being more splendid or excellent. I am to honor God with praise, admiration, and worship.

My actions reveal the state of my heart. Since my prayers are actions I perform, they reveal the state of my heart. I can then evaluate whether or not they glorify God. If they do not glorify Him, I have no right to expect a response from Him. This does not mean that He will definitely not respond though, for in His sovereignty He may choose to do so. However, I should have no expectation of my desires being fulfilled if God is not glorified in them. On the other side of the coin, my prayers and my purpose may be glorifying to God, but the answer may be something other than what I desire. Paul spoke of such a thing, the thorn in the flesh. In 2 Corinthians 12:7-9 he writes, “Because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, for this reason, to keep me from exalting myself, there was given me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to torment me--to keep me from exalting myself! Concerning this I implored the Lord three times that it might leave me. And He has said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness’. Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me.” Paul sought relief from the torment, but he was able to receive the answer, trusting in God and His perfect will. Paul knew that God would use it for a purpose that would glorify God.

This leads me back to being God-fearing and being obedient to His will. If I measure the effectiveness of my prayer by whether or not I received the answer I was looking for, I will surely be disappointed and discouraged. If my measurement is whether or not I received an answer at all, I can rejoice and give thanks. What a joy, blessing and privilege it is to know that the Creator of the universe would share His will, His purpose, with me. Who am I that the Living God would find me worthy of hearing from Him? I must understand that prayer is communication on a personal level. It is not the presentation of a list of requests as if at a drive through window. It is faithfully seeking God; believing that He hears me and then believing that I will hear Him if I stop long enough to listen. I may hear something that is unexpected or even unwelcome. But what is the purpose of my prayer? Is it to get what I want or is it to converse with Almighty God? It is hard for me to get my head around the idea that such a Supreme Being would have time for little old me. What an honor it is to be able to go boldly before the throne of the Judge of all of creation. What a blessing it is to be warmly welcomed into His presence. Even as I prepared this message I was overwhelmed by the joy of the knowledge of his presence. It is impossible to describe to someone who has no personal knowledge of God’s saving grace. It is impossible to deny His existence once the knowledge and experience has been received.

The band FFH has a song titled Astronaut. The first verse is this:
As I look through the evening sky
I think to myself
How much He must love you and I
The Milky Way makes me look
Like a piece of dust on the road
But the Milky Way is a speck of dust
Compared to my Lord
That's how big He is
That's how big He is

I enjoy sitting back and pondering the thought, “Who am I Lord that You love me?” “Who am I Lord that You would come to earth in the form of man and give Your life so that I may be restored to eternal life?” “Who am I Lord that You would love me despite my sinfulness and bring me back into your perfect creation one day?” “Who am I Lord, that as this speck of dust in all the cosmos, that You would here my prayer?” When contemplating this, I am overwhelmed by His loving presence as the thoughts are so humbling. Humility and thanksgiving are the keys to entering into the presence of God. These are the things that glorify God. These are the things that clear the slate so real communion may be experienced with God.

This is effective prayer, to hear God and to do His will.

Humble yourself and call out to God. Ask Him to reveal the truth of Himself to you and He will show you the way of Salvation. The Son, Jesus Christ, came to earth in the form of man and went to the cross and died for each one of us. The shedding of His blood was the necessary sacrifice for the forgiveness of our sins. It is our humility and belief in that sacrifice, our trusting in the work of Christ, that will allow us to receive the gift of eternal life. Jesus said, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.” There is no other way, He gives no other options. If we don’t agree, our argument is with God. Who are we to call God a liar? It is humility, faith and thanksgiving that will make the most important prayer of our lives effective. That is the prayer in which we confess our sins and acknowledge the truth of the gospel. The answer to that prayer, the result of that communication with God, the purpose of Christ’s prayer, is our salvation from the penalty of sin, which gives us eternal life. My prayer is that you will have effective prayer in your life.

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