PRAYING IN REVERENT FEAR

Many people are uncomfortable with the word fear in relation to the Christian life. That may be because we confuse the fear of the Lord with the petty fears of this world. Some Bible translations use the word reverence where the word fear is indicated. I don’t think that is completely wrong. But the word reverence is not strong enough. It does not bring to our minds enough force of emotion. We are to tremble in fear before God. In Leviticus 9 we read about the first offering offered in the tabernacle in the wilderness.

Fire came out from the presence of the Lord and consumed the burnt offering and the fat portions on the altar. And when all the people saw it, they shouted for joy and fell facedown.

We come into the presence of our Lord before whom John fell down as a dead man.[1] If you begin by thinking about the majesty and holiness and grace of God you can call upon him trembling in such reverent and joyful fear.

In 1 Peter 1:17-19 Peter writes,

And if you call on him as Father who judges impartially according to each one’s deeds, conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time of your exile, knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot.

 

http://daveswatch.com/

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[1] Rev. 1:17

PRAYING GOD'S HEART

Whose heart are you praying? It is often a step of growth for a person to move from praying casual prayers to crying out to God with your heart. But it is greater spiritual growth to move to praying God’s heart. But even a new Christian can desire to please God. And you don't have to be a spiritual giant to know the best things that ever happen are the will of God. As we grow in those prayers, We begin to long for those things that God desires.

YOU CAN PRAY FOR THE PURPOSES OF GOD.

Read your Bible daily asking God to show you His purpose and purposes. You can ask God to show you His purposes all around you. You know that God is not willing for anyone to parish. Are you praying for lost people He has brought into your life? You know He desires holiness. It is easy to complain about the wickedness that we see in politics, the media and modern society. But it is more important to pray for God to bring about His holiness.

MISSIONS ARE ON GOD’S HEART.

Are you praying for missions and missionaries around the world? Start with someone you know or know about. Keep in touch with that person. Pray earnestly for God’s mighty hand on them. From there ask God to show you more who take the gospel to the ends of the earth. Ask God to expand your passion for the world that Jesus came to save.

YOU CAN PRAY FOR COMPASSION.

Are you asking God to stir your heart with His love? Ask Him to give you His love for people all around you.

PRAY FOR SPIRITUAL GROWTH.

Spiritual growth can be painful. We often waste our prayer tmes asking God to make us comfortable. You can pray for God to do what is necessary in your life to make you strong. I sometimes find myself in the midst of pain or difficulty praying for God to keep me from missing the blessing or benefit He intends for me out of the situation. “Father, it would be terrible for me to go through this suffering and still miss what you intend to do in my life.” I find this much more satisfying that simply praying that God will get me out of the painful situation.

STRETCHING YOUR PRAYER LIFE

I am aware that many of you have an aversion to writing out prayer lists. And I understand that this may not be your best way of praying on a regular basis. But I want to suggest using prayer lists to stretch your prayer life. You may want to do this as a temporary experiment. Choose a certain period of time, say a day, a week or a month. Then ask God to lead you to people you should pray for each day for the time allotted.

1. Stretch the selflessness of your prayers.

When I make formal prayer requests I include people that are hard for me to pray for. I put people on my list who I believe are wrong, or some who sin in ways that offend me most. I put people on my prayer list that I am having trouble forgiving or loving. I pray daily for these hard-to-love people stretching the compassion and faithfulness of my prayer life.

2. Stretch the time of your praying.

When I start listing people I need to pray for, my list grows quickly. It takes time to pray for all these people and needs. And spending more time in direct communion with God is good for me. This may be the most difficult part of such an exercise. To have more time for prayer you may have to rise earlier in the morning. You may need to spend your lunch hour in prayer. You will have to skip TV shows and other time consuming activities.

3. Stretch the purpose of your prayers.

By making prayer lists you will stretch your prayers beyond your own personal needs, interests and concerns. This kind of prayer presses you to pray for greater things in the purpose and plans of God.

4. Stretch the faith of your prayers.

I find that praying beyond my comfort zone stretches my faith in what God is able and willing to do when I pray.

PRAY FOR INSIGHT

What do you do when you read something you do not understand in the Bible? Some things may even offend you. How do you respond?

The faith of many has been sabotaged as they came to something in scripture that went counter to their understanding or confused their theology.

There are several ways people approach this fairly common dilemma. Some study harder, read commentaries, search for explanations by others. This is often the right thing to do. We need to allow difficulties to motivate us to study. However, this can be a dangerous first step. Understanding scripture requires more than diligent study and natural intelligence. It calls for wisdom and spiritual insight. James says anyone who lacks wisdom should ask God. (James 1:5)

Sometimes people try to twist the scripture to say what they already think. I do not need to tell you this is wrong, but we certainly see it a lot.

I also see people getting louder in their affirmation of what a scripture seems to contradict. How many angry retorts have you heard against Paul’s statements about predestination (Eph.1:5) or some other doctrine that Scripture affirms or seems to put forth? Right or wrong this is unspiritual behavior.

Romans 12:14 tells us spiritual things are discerned by the Holy Spirit. He begins by bringing us to the point of meekness. We must submit to God’s truth no matter what. Then ask the Spirit to work patience in your heart to wait on His illumination. I recommend memorizing the verse or difficult passage. Then in patience and meekness meditate on it, praying for God to speak to your heart.

With this Spiritual foundation in place you can go to commentaries and study what others have written about a passage. It is interesting that commentaries seldom delve into passages that trouble us. But that will not keep God’s Spirit from giving you special insight into His truth.

SIN THAT CLINGS TO US

"Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and the sin that clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us."
Heb. 12:1 e.s.v.


Jesus taught us to pray that we not be led into, or that we might be led away from temptation. But most, if not all of us, are confronted by the fact that that some sin "clings so closely" that we internalize the temptation. To pray against these sins we need to pray about our attitudes. The cynical word, the rude remark or the angry explosion is preceded by an attitude of resentment or self-pity. I suspect something similar is true about pornography or indulging in lusts or severing relationships or whatever sin you fall into again and again.


I can trust these wicked attitudes as if they were from God. I can also pray for God to transform my thinking, and so my faith. It is not unbelief for me to pray, as I often do, "Father, if you don't change my attitude, I will surely fall into sin." But if I believe the sin will solve the problem or meet a need, I am putting my faith in the sin. Especially if your clinging sin relates to angry words, you are tempted to put your faith in them to bring about righteousness. But the wrath of man never brings about the righteousness of God. (James 1:20) I am aware that Jesus got quite angry on occasion. And I suspect we should be angry about some things. But most anger is selfish and foolish. And if resentment is just beneath my skin, I will trust it before I think about calling on God.


I also need to pray for my bad attitudes to be replaced with good attitudes. I need an attitude of endurance when things are difficult. If a runner in a long distance race dwells on how steep the hill he is on, or on how much better he would feel if he quit, he will be less likely to finish. If a runner thinks of anything but putting one foot in front of the other, he needs to be thinking of the finish line that he will reach if he endures the difficulty which is part of the race.

THE THRILL OF WORSHIP

Many people worship excitement and thrills today. People are often addicted to new and greater thrills. Part of the reason for this is that all earthly thrills are diminishing. The first time a person experiences a thrill the automatic response may be terror. The next time it may be something like joy. But each succeeding time the intensity diminishes into boredom.

But there is a thrill that works the other way. That is the thrill of pouring ourselves into the worship of God. He is infinite. The nearer we draw to Him, the more we come to understand and experience His Majesty, His glory, the wonder of His being! The more we worship Him, the more we long to worship more and more. Like His compassion and faithfulness, our worship is new every morning forever. (Lam.3:23)

Have you ever thought it would be boring to be one of the four living creatures surrounding the throne of God crying "Holy, holy, holy," forever and ever? (Daniel 6:3) That misunderstands the reality of worshipping the infinite God. Worship is certainly boring if not disturbing to lost people. And indeed they would be eternally horrified in heaven. But God in His grace does not make heaven mandatory for those who reject Him. And the more a person rejects God the harder and colder the heart becomes. However, the more we come to know God, the more we are transformed in His glorious presence and the more we thrill at worshipping Him.

PRAYING IN A TIME OF CRISIS AND CHAOS

I recently listened while someone described the chaos that "will" follow a nuclear bomb launched by Iran, North Korea or independent terrorists and then exploded in the atmosphere, and/or the calamity following a sunspot, as well as the coming revolution in the U.S. where the hordes and roving gangs will murder us for our food and water. I need to say this caused me to pause.

This would not have bothered me so much had I not been memorizing Joel chapter 1 and thinking about the judgment of these days. I need to say that God is very patient. He waited 400 years for the people of Canaan to fill up their sins. He waited longer to bring upon Israel the judgment promised by Moses for rejecting God's revelation. Judgment is in the hands of God. But whether we face it today or God raises up prophets and prayer warriors to turn aside judgment on America and the world, I believe God is telling some of us to teach believers how to pray in such days. Here are some crucial perspectives for prayer that prayer warriors need to adopt for times of crisis.

1. Learn to Pray in the Perspective of Persevering.

In the midst of flagrant persecution Barnabas and Paul told the fledgling churches that "We must enter the kingdom of God through persecution." Jesus said we would have persecution in the world. And we will. We will need a grace for those days that God will not give until they arrive. But we must encourage one another today that persecution in this world is normal for those of us who are overcoming it. We can trust God to enable us to persevere. His own people will successfully endure hardship.

2. Learn to Pray in the Perspective of God's Protection.

You need to have some of the promises of God's protection memorized. Everyone should have Psalm 46 and 91 memorized. The arrow that flies by day and the terror of the night will surely come. You will need such powerful promises instilled into your heart. And you need to be used to praying through them now even though you will understand those promises far better in the coming judgment and the time of trouble.

3. Learn to Pray in the Perspective of the Purpose of God.

Christianity received a great boost in Europe when the plague was devastating whole cities. Christians showed compassion on those afflicted. They gave them food and water, cooled their fevers and comforted their hearts. Christians and people who lived near them were far more likely to survive the plague. Even in good times life is so much better when it is lived for others in the purpose of God. We can still rejoice even  in days of great trial if we have an ultimate purpose.

4. Learn to Pray in the Perspective of Eternity.

How many of our prayers only consider the immediate? Those are not necessarily bad prayers. But they should not be the primary preoccupation of the children of the resurrection. We are the people of eternity who are not dominated by the tyranny of the temporary. We need to enter the calamitous day already in the habit of praying for the work of God in the climax of history.