PRAYER THAT PRODUCES LOVE

Prayer is certainly bound together with love. Prayer is the expression of love. And love ought to be the motivation for our prayers. In Matthew 5:44 Jesus commanded His followers, “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.” You do not love your enemies, if you are not praying for them. And prayer is a powerful means of developing love for those who are difficult to love. I believe it is an expression of love to pray for someone you bitterly dislike, simply out of obedience. Because God has told you to someone, you struggle to ask Him to work in her life. But as you carry that out day by day, the love of Christ for that person will grow in your heart and mind.


I would like you to try this exercise. Make a list of people you have trouble loving. Maybe it is someone who wronged you or someone you care about. Maybe it is a person whose attitudes or behavior you do not approve. The very thought of them irritates you. Most of us can come up with a list of 4 or 5 such people off the top of our heads. You may ask God to bring such people to your mind. When you have the list, take time to pray for these people every day for a week. You may be tempted to pray for God to bring them into judgment, but you don't want to pray that kind of prayer for someone Jesus died to redeem. I think it is acceptable to begin by praying for God to change them or bring them to repentance.  From there you can ask God to show you how to pray for them. At the end of the week take an assessment of your attitude toward them. It will have changed. You will be drawn nearer to the heart of God.

 

 

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I'M TAKING THIS TO YOU

One of the best things about the discipline of praying for organized lists of people is that God impresses me with difficult people to pray for. It strains my prayer life to pray for people I do not necessarily like. It stretches my faith to pray for people whom I can hardly imagine changing.

I pray daily for family members who have ruined their lives and the lives of others I love. And I find myself asking, "How could God straighten out the mess they have made?" I also pray for people with whom I fiercely disagree. I know I could not change their minds. Can God change their hearts or mine? I am often doubtful when I come to the names of some of these people. I have begun saying, "I am taking this person to You, Father. You can do anything."

This seems to be enough to ease the anxiety of my unbelief. The key to strengthening our faith is in recognizing the greatness and nearness of God. This prayer not only rests in His great power, but also on His ability to understand the complex problems people are facing. I do not necessarily believe this is strong faith, but focusing on God is certainly the step of faith I need in praying for difficult people and circumstances.

 

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PRAYER AND GOOD

Most Believers cling firmly to the promise of God in Romans 8:28. I am no exception. But it is important to note that this promise is linked with the promise in verse 26 of God's help in our prayers. Am I saying the promise only applies if you are praying about your difficult circumstances? No, I am not saying that. But I do believe God will use difficult circumstances to teach you to pray. Growing your prayer life is part of the good God is working in your life.
 
God's work in your life depends on His teaching you to pray. The Spirit's intercession for us informs our understanding.  I suppose the Spirit prays things for me without my understanding. I want God to help me keep my job, but the Holy Spirit is praying for me to learn to trust God to care for my family. He may even be praying for God to move me to a place where I will have a greater witness. However, the primary way the Spirit prays in me includes growing my understanding. He shows me Scripture verses or simply whispers into my heart. In John 15:15 Jesus said He no longer calls us servants because a servant does not know what his master is doing. He works in me, teaching me to pray for things that I would never have longed for without His intervention in my life including my thinking and praying.
 
 
 
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PRAYING ON A MISSION

What do you have to do that wastes your time and strains your patience? Can you pray in that time? For 40+ years I have enjoyed shopping with my wife. I like being with her. However, we made a compromise early on. I would walk along behind her with a book. I used the time well, and she could ask, if she wanted my advice. "Do the pink look better than the blue?" Of course I occasionally got lost from her. When l discovered that had happened, I would go to the cash registers and wait. Several times over the years we had someone at church say someone had told them, "I think I saw your pastor in such-and-such store this week. He was reading a book!"

It may be a little late to keep people from thinking me nuts, but I have discovered that I can pray for people in the store. Today we went to Wal-Mart. I left my book in the car and entered the store on a mission. I couldn't help wondering what God was preparing to do as I prayed for nearly a hundred people up and down the aisles.

Where could you be praying? I once heard a pastor tell about using time he was stuck in traffic to pray for people who were in the hospital. I have read about a wife praying for her husband as she ironed his shirts. You could memorize a list of missionaries, countries or people groups, lost friends or family members to pray for in the dentist's office or wherever. You can even get excited about what great thing God is preparing to do because He gave you a special time to pray.


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PRAY FOR PEOPLE EVERYWHERE

I want to return today to a crucial facet of prayer that I have written about before. I want to encourage you to develop the habit of praying for people everywhere you are. You can pray for people you see in the bank or the grocery store. You can pray for people you meet as you walk down the street or even as you are stuck in traffic.

Of course the first question that arises about this is “What do I pray for total strangers?” I have given people guides that they can use to get started, but in fact, I think the best way to pray is to be open to whatever the Holy Spirit brings to your mind as you pray. You will discover that you can often see needs at a glance on people’s faces. I also see a person who reminds me of someone I do know. I pray briefly for the person I see and then at length for the person who is called to mind.

I need to admit that this does not come naturally to me. I have to remind myself again and again to be praying for people around me. Possibly the most important thing I can do to prepare to pray for people everywhere I go, is to begin my day with a sustained devotional time and take intermittent times devoted to prayer throughout the day. But I still have to pray regularly for God to remind me to pray for people as I go through my day. You may find this comes more natural to you. But even if it does not, you will find this to be a powerful blessing in your life.

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THE PRAYER OF SALVATION

I have been among those who complain about the notion of the mouthing of a “sinner’s prayer” as the means to salvation. I wrote a track a few years ago entitled The primary message of Jesus. It was based on the fact that Jesus called people to repent and become disciples. I am not sure we should not quote verses like 2 Timothy 3:12 to people as we present Christ to them. It reads.

“In fact, everyone who wants to lead a Godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.”

Rote repetition is a misuse of the sinner’s prayer even if its wording includes repentance and discipleship. However prayer is an integral part of discipleship. We must respond to God in prayer.

But I want to focus here, not on the prayer that brings salvation, but the prayer that salvation brings, on the prayer that salvation is. Romans 5:1-2 speaks of access granted us into the presence of God himself.

Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.

Those who are drawn by God to Jesus Christ for forgiveness purchased by Him on the cross have access to God. We can pray! Praise God, we can pray! From the point of our redemption every prayer we pray is a prayer of salvation. It is prayer purchased for us at an eternal cost for God’s everlasting glory. When we come to Christ, we begin a life of prayer.

 

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TEACH US TO NUMBER OUR DAYS

                                                          Teach us to number our days aright,

that we may gain a heart of wisdom.

Psalm 90:12

We seldom think of Moses as a singer/song-writer. He wrote only one song, at least that we have recorded in the Psalter. It is Psalm 90. In it he prayed to see from God’s perspective. Few things empower our prayers like learning to see from God’s perspective. Like most of the Hebrew songs, this psalm is a prayer. And it is important to understand that only God can teach us to see from His perspective.

In the psalm Moses prays for God to teach us to number our days aright. We naturally count our days. We help children celebrate birthdays. And they come to each new birthday with earnest anticipation. As we grow older we no longer come to birthdays with anticipation. Some of us come to them with dread. Interestingly enough many of us grow old enough for birthdays to become precious again, even a source of pride.

God has used my cancer to show me a little of His perspective. The prospect of a diminishing number of birthdays has helped me see how precious life is, not just every birthday, but every moment. But even being aware of the brevity of life does not help us see from God’s perspective. We can only learn that from God Himself. So Moses prayed for God to teach us to number our days aright that we may gain a heart of wisdom. Are you praying to see and pray from God’s perspective?

 

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