PRAY AND LET GOD HANDLE IT! (Pt. II)

The gospel musician, J. Moss, shared a significant message with us: “Don’t Pray and Worry.”  In fact, his song is a musical echo of the admonition of Jesus Christ, “that men should always PRAY and not faint.” (Luke 18:1) As we begin today, allow me to recap yesterday’s Kingdom truths.  We learned that “worry is a tragic waste of time and energy.  It displaces our faith and nullifies our confidence, thereby cancelling our opportunities.  Worry is actually a destabilizing force, designed in hell to terrorize and paralyze the people of God.  Jesus Christ admonishes believers to nullify anxiety and fear by safely trusting in the sovereignty of God.” 

COVENANTAL PRAYER, i.e. the believer’s Word-Based Prayer-of-Faith, becomes the potent spiritual antidote for dispelling all fear, anxiety and worry.  Since prayer is so vital and since it infuses such spiritual inspiration, strength and vitality in all who regularly approach the throne of grace, the following question is begged: “WHY DO WE FAIL TO COMMIT TO CONSISTENT PARTICIPATION IN PRAYER?”

This is an important question.  Unfortunately, there are significant barriers to developing a systematic and sustained prayer life.  Some of these barriers are: 1) The erroneous belief that we have little available time or opportunity to pray, 2) The absence of a specific appointment and area for family prayer in our homes, 3) The aggressive satanic warfare that is strategically deployed to block our participation in prayer, 4) A common misconception that prayer is unimportant, uninteresting, or boring, 5) Our failure to pray until we are ushered into The Throne Room, i.e. into the presence of The True and Living God, 6) Our failure to faithfully Pray-The-Word, which results in unanswered petitions and frustrated participants, 7) Our failure to potentiate our faith, enthusiasm, expectations and outcomes by participating alongside other believers.

We overcome all obstacles when the simple motto of Nike is applied to prayer: “Just Do It.”

Prayer is a spiritual phenomenon that is fully embraced, empowered, enlightened and enhanced as we engage a systematic and sustained participation.  In other words, the more we pray…the more we want to pray!  For instance, on those occasions when I become lax or inconsistent about personal prayer time, I am always amazed afterwards.  How so?  Because once I re-enter the presence of the Lord, in which there is “fullness of joy,” I cannot (for the life of me) understand why I have allowed any time or distance to interfere or intervene. (Psalm 16:11)  And at such moments of epiphany, I ask myself “WHY?”

Consider this.  Wouldn’t we be totally thrilled to receive a gold-embossed invitation from The White House or from Buckingham Palace or from Pretoria Government House?  Unfortunately, we have to ‘wait’ on such invitations, and most of us will find ourselves waiting for a very, very long time.  Nevertheless, we can become personally proactive in obtaining the most important, highly coveted, divinely-royal audience available anywhere in the universe.  For of our own will and volition, without any invitations or restrictions, we are permitted to make a DAILY APPOINTMENT…with the KING OF KINGS and the LORD OF LORDS!  WOW!!!  And our prayer possibilities are endless and amazing.  In truth, they are absolutely astounding!

So why not set a definite time and place to commune and communicate with Christ?  Might I ask a personal question?  When is your next appointment?  Don’t tell anyone, but my wife and I have already set ours up for later this afternoon…and we are absolutely thrilled about it!  To paraphrase the words of Tamela Mann, ‘Take Us to The King!’  Sisters and brothers, be continually blessed and stay tuned…more to come tomorrow!

PRAY AND LET GOD HANDLE IT! (Pt. I)

The Apostle Paul wisely instructed the believers at Philippi “not [to] fret or have anxiety about anything, but in every circumstance and in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, continue to make your wants known to God.” (Philippians 4:6, The Amplified Bible)  Worry is actually a destabilizing force that was designed in hell in order to terrorize and paralyze the people of God.  JESUS CHRIST admonishes us to nullify anxiety and fear by safely trusting in the sovereignty of God.  “Fear not, little flock,” he counsels us, “for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.”  (Luke 12:32)  Later in Christ’s public ministry, “he spake a parable unto them to this end, that men ought always to pray, and not to faint.” (Luke 18:1)

Worry is a tragic waste of time and energy.  Furthermore, it displaces our faith and nullifies our confidence, thereby cancelling our opportunities.  I love the wisdom in the Book of Hebrews: “Cast not away therefore your confidence, which hath great recompense of reward.  For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise.  For yet a little while, and he that shall come will come, and will not tarry.  Now the just shall live by faith...” (Hebrews 10:35-38) Our Word-based prayers are strategic focal points for our continuing confidence and unwavering faith in Almighty God.  PRAY…and also encourage other faith-filled believers to pray for you and your life-situations.

Dr. David Jeremiah relates the following incident.  “While serving at a small field hospital in Africa, I traveled every two weeks by bicycle through the jungle to a nearby city for supplies.  This required camping overnight halfway.  On one of these trips, I saw two men fighting in the city.  One was seriously hurt so I treated him and witnessed to him about the Lord Jesus Christ.  I then returned home without incident.  Upon arriving in that same city several weeks later, I was approached by the man I had treated earlier.  He told me he had known that I carried money and medicine.  He said, ‘Some friends and I followed you into the jungle, knowing you would camp overnight.  We waited for you to go to sleep and planned to kill you and take your money and drugs.  Just as we were about to move into your campsite, we saw that you were surrounded by 26 armed guards.’  I laughed at this and said, ‘I was certainly all alone out in the jungle campsite.’  The young man pressed the point, ‘No sir, I was not the only one to see the guards.  My five friends also saw them, and we all counted them.  It was because of those guards that we were afraid and left you alone.’  At this point of my church presentation in Michigan, one of the men in the church stood up and interrupted me.  He asked, ‘Can you tell me the exact date when this happened?’  I thought for a while and recalled the date.  The man in the congregation then gave his side of the story.  He stated, ‘On that night when you were in Africa, it was daytime here.  I was preparing to play golf.  As I put my bags in the car, I felt the Lord leading me to pray for you.  In fact, His urging was so great that I called the men of our church together to pray for you.  Will all those men who met to pray that day please stand?’  The men who had met to pray stood up...and there were 26 of them!”  WOW!

Isn’t it wonderfully assuring to know that the providence of God is all-present and all-encompassing?  Even when we are unaware of our deepest needs and we, therefore, “know not what we should pray for as we ought…The Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.” (Romans 8:26)  We serve an AWESOME GOD!

Sisters and brothers, have you prayed (faithfully and fervently) about your most recent challenge?  Or, are you stressing and obsessing over your situation and your apparent inability to handle it?  Always remember this: GOD CAN…and GOD WILL!  Be continually blessed, and stay tuned…more to come tomorrow!

HYPOCRISY: A DANGEROUS DILEMMA

One of the most dangerous things we could possibly do is to walk through this life in the guise of a hypocrite.  Truthfulness, transparency and authenticity are non-negotiable keys for admission into the grace and glory of God.  Jesus Christ expressed it quite simply and succinctly.  “Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.” (Matthew 5:8)  Consider the story of “The Jackal in the Lion’s Skin.”

An unwise jackal lived in the jungle.  One day he felt powerful hunger pangs.  He looked for an animal to eat for lunch, but could not find any.  But in that remote corner of the jungle, the jackal discovered the skin of a dead lion.  He donned the skin, then raced to the tiger family’s cave.  He called out confidently, “Is anyone at home?”

The tiger’s wife came out.  She saw the jackal in the lion’s skin and thought he was indeed a lion.  Mrs. Tiger was terrified.  “Please, sir,” she said. “What do you want?”  The jackal commanded loudly, “Give me some meat or I shall kill you and your children!”

Mrs. Tiger ran inside.  She brought out lots of meat.  The crafty jackal ate and ate till he could eat no more.  Then he went away.  But every day the jackal returned to the tiger’s cave.  The tiger’s wife was totally afraid of him, so she provided meat daily.  The jackal ate and ate.  In fact, he ate so much that he soon grew fat.

One day the jackal said to the tigress, “Today I shall take your children to the river for a bath.  Tell them to get ready.”  Mrs. Tiger told her cubs, “Children, your uncle is taking you to the river for a bath.  Get ready quickly and go with him.”  The tiger cubs were very happy and went along with the jackal.  They came to the river.  The jackal said, “You all can have a swim in the river.  I shall stand here and watch you.”

The tiger cubs jumped into the river with glee.  They swam in the water and had lots of fun.  Then they came out and offered, “Uncle Lion, now it is your turn to have a bath.”  The jackal was afraid to go into the water, but he did not want the tiger cubs to find out.  So he said, “Very well, children.  I shall have a bath now.  I shall take off my clothes.  So children, close your eyes tight.  Don’t peek!”  All the tiger cubs closed their eyes.

The jackal removed his lying lion skin.  Then he went to the river.  But he was afraid to go in.  So he stood near the water and called out loudly, “Chup-chup, chup-chup, chup-chup!”  The tiger cubs thought he was swimming in the river.  They could not see him, because their eyes were closed tightly.  But the youngest cub was very naughty, so he opened one eye to look.  And what did he see?  He spied a not-so-clever jackal standing near the river, simply perpetrating, and crying out loudly, “Chup-chup, chup-chup, chup-chup!”

So the youngest cub said to his elder brothers, “He is not a lion at all!  He is just a jackal!”  “Shhh!” his brothers whispered.  “Don’t say that.  He is a lion.  If he hears you, he will kill all of us!” 

“But I tell you he is a jackal!” the youngest cub insisted.  “Just look!”  All the cubs opened one eye and looked.  They saw that the so-called lion was only a jackal.  So, all at once, they pounced on the jackal and ate him up.  The cubs went back and informed Mrs. Tiger: “Mother, uncle is not a lion.  He is a jackal, and we have killed and eaten him.”

“Shhh!” cautioned the panicky mother.  “Don’t say that, children.  He is a lion, and if he hears you, he will be very angry with us!”  “But mother, he is not a lion,” the cubs repeated with excitement.  “He is a jackal.  He was only wearing a lion’s skin.  We have killed and eaten him up.”  Mrs. Tiger was now ecstatic.  “Thank you, my children,” she said with a smile.  “Now he will not cheat or bother us anymore!”

Consider this addendum to the story.  Not only is hypocrisy dangerous, it is downright uncomfortable.  Decades ago, I worked for a man who called himself “Dr. ____” and told everyone he had a Ph.D., when in fact, he did not.  One day, while we were dining with our group, a young lady walked up and asked him the following embarrassing question: “Dr. ____, where did you pursue your graduate studies and earn your Ph.D.?  My employer practically choked on his food!  You see, lying is unnecessary, and only leads down the path of additional deception.  Often, the only one you are really fooling is yourself!

The story of “The Jackal in the Lion’s Skin” is reminiscent of Christ’s strong warning to His Church: “Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.” (Matthew 7:15)  However, the people of God are never without divine direction and protection.  Jesus advised his disciples, “Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves: be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves.” (Matthew 10:16)  It is of paramount importance that the people of God remain ever alert and watchful…lest we be led into the subtle snares of “ravening wolves.”  So…Watch and Pray!  (Nehemiah 4:9 – Matthew 26:41 – Ephesians 6:18 – Colossians 4:2 – I Peter 4:7)   My sisters and brothers, be continually blessed!