MANIPULATION or FAITH

The subject of my blog this week sounds a little like it belongs in my other blog, thinkinginthespirit.blogspot.com/ rather than watchininprayer. But in fact, this deals with the attitude that must drive our prayers. Is your life, are your prayers, driven by faith or by the need to manipulate circumstances, people or even God?

Do you approach Your Circumstances in Faith or the desire to Manipulate?

When you face painful circumstances, it is difficult if not impossible not to ask God to change them. In Fact, prayer can be a statement that you are trusting God to improve your circumstances. Can you imagine Joseph in the Old Testament not praying for his release as He languished in prison? I'm sure he cried out to God for relief. But instead God used him in the prison. And God chose to use his situation to promote him to the highest position in the land.

In Philippians 2:5 and following Paul says, "Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus." Jesus voluntarily left heaven and all its glory to be born in a manger, to have no place to lay His head, to be rejected by men, to be unjustly condemned and crucified for you. In John 12:27,28 He said, "Now is my soul troubled. And what shall I say? Father save me from this hour? No, it was for this very reason that I came to this hour." God has also determined your circumstances, however painful. Can you trust God to use you in the situations where He has planted you?

Do you trust God to work in Other People's lives rather than trying to manipulate them? When you and I are driven to change someone else, we need to ask ourselves if we are trying to manipulate them for their benefit or for ourselves. This may be difficult to determine because we are so quick to justify our behavior. Even if our motives are always pure, we must trust other people to God. Have you noticed that God gives people the freedom to sin and even to reject Him? Without such freedom there could be no true righteousness? It is difficult to watch someone you love ruin their life. And realizing that you cannot manipulate them to do what you want becomes a motivation to pray. Faith trusts and cries out to God to speak to their hearts to draw them to repent and voluntarily turn to Him. Only God can do what needs to be done in someone's heart.

Are you seeking to Manipulate God?

When our prayers are driven by wants and fears rather than faith in our Heavenly Father, we fall into praying and doing anything else we do to put God in our debt, so He will have to give us what we want. We are trying to pray against God's will. Philippians 4:6 calls us to lift our prayers with thanksgiving. You can exercise your faith in God's grace by giving thanks before you see how God will answer your prayers. He is your Father. And you can trust Him to give you what you need. Our children don't always understand what we are trying to do for them. But in the long run they come to appreciate their parents' love. You can trust God to give you what you ask for or to give you what you would ask for if you knew everything He knows.

I need to let all of you who read my blog know, that the Kindle edition of Home In The Wilderness, my latest novel will be free Tuesday, August 16 through Friday, August 19, 2016. https://goo.gl/X3IFQT

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PRAY FOR THE COURT

Many of us are, or should be, alarmed about rulings by the supreme court in these days. Our founding Fathers set up a balance of power between three somewhat independent branches of government. But now the Supreme Court of the United States has begun to trump the law and the will of the people apparently without precedent in law or the constitution. They have begun to short-cut our representative government by legislating from the bench. Hence we are losing government of the people by the people and for the people.

I need to say the court has opposed righteousness and the constitution before. In 1858 the Supreme Court ruled that negroes whose ancestors were brought here as slaves had no access to American courts.[1] That ungodly decision helped to throw us into a bloody civil war. On the other hand, I have to admit that I thank God for civil rights decisions that went against the will of voters in southern states in the 1950s. They were on the side of the angels.

I have some crucial advice that those who care about righteousness in our country.

Trust God!

That surely means being confident that He is still sovereign over history. I do not mean to say bad things will not come upon our nation as a result of our sin. Sin is still a disgrace to any people. And the way of the transgressor is hard. But even as terrible things come, God will draw people to His grace, and He will see us through our trials.

Trusting God will also mean standing for what is right even when our laws or judicial rulings tend to normalize evil. We must do our best to stand firm even when all of society seems to be turning against God.

Most importantly people who trust God, will pray. We will pray for our neighbors and neighborhoods. We will pray for the power of holiness in our churches. We will pray for our government and our laws. We will pray for our president and congress as they appoint and approve judges. And yes we will pray for The Supreme Court of The United States. Have you prayed for the court? It is more important to ask, if you will pray for the court. Here are the names of the current Supreme Court Justices. I encourage you to write them in your Bible and pray regularly for each of them.

Justice Clarence Thomas

Chief Justice John G. Roberts

Justice Anthony Kennedy,

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg

Justice Sonia Sotomayor

Justice Stephen G. Breyer

Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr.

Justice Elena Kagan

Of course there are only eight justices since the untimely death of Antonin Scalia. We also need to pray for the appointment of the ninth justice who will be brought up from a lower court. I believe God will work mightily through our prayers.

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[1] http://www.history.com/topics/black-history/dred-scott-case

PRAYING FOR EMERGENCIES II

I am writing a second WATCHING IN PRAYER blog this week, rather than my THINKING IN THE SPIRIT blog. I apologize to you who may prefer the other. I intend to return to Thinking in The Spirit next week.

Thank God, I did not receive another Amber Alert this week. But this week a series of national tragedies unfolded. Two more black Americans were shot by police officers. That is a tragedy whether those two armed men or the policemen were in the wrong. Who can defend either all police who see every black man as a threat or people who grow up with hatred and resentment toward police.

And who of us was not horrified by the sniper who shot eleven police officers who were helping to keep the crowd safe at the protest rally in Dallas. We heard person after person who had come to the rally to protest police shootings, as they cried out in shock against the murder of the peace officers.

We face a host of national emergencies in these days. We see moral and spiritual emergencies in America. The political and social divisions are a crisis in. And who would say our sins have not offended the holiness of God who has so richly blessed us?

The first thing we must do in the face emergencies is cry out to God. The Lord told Abraham as He sent the angels to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah. And Abraham interceded for the wicked cities. Are you interceding for America? Are you searching for ways to intercede in accordance with the righteousness of God? Are you crying out for the power of God that alone can turn our hearts around? Are you praying for God's glory to be magnified by His intervention in our government, in our institutions, in the police, in the media, in our neighborhoods, in our churches, in our homes, and in our lives? I am praying for an army of prayer warriors who will cry out to God night and day for our nation.

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PRAYING FOR EMERGENCIES I

I intend to post two watching in prayer blogs in a row, rather than alternating next week with my THINKING IN THE SPIRIT blog. So this is PRAYING FOR EMERGENCIES I.

This week I received an Amber Alert on my phone. This is a new function of my phone. In fact, after I received it I got a message asking if I wanted to receive such messages in the future. I automatically keyed in "yes." But, of course part of me wanted to say, "No." I don't ever want there to be kidnapped children. I can rejoice that that day will come. But until that day I want to know about such terrors so I can pray as they unfold.

Of course an Amber Alert or a screaming siren, even a honking horn can be a distraction. We are tempted to try to find out what is happening. That of course is natural. But let me suggest that we start praying before we do anything else.

Romans 12:12 is one of those Scriptures that God has often used to speak to me. The King James Version concludes that verse with the words, "continuing instant in prayer." William Carrie said he was able to bring people on the mission field to Christ because God helped him be "instant in prayer." Our English word, "instant" comes to us through Middle English and French from the Latin, "in stare," which meant to stand at the ready."

The secret to being instant in prayer is to be immersed in prayer. If I am already praying when I hear the alarm, I will automatically pray for the urgency.

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HEALING IN THE CHURCH

What part should healing play in the church? I believe the Bible is clear on this matter. James 5:14,15 gives specific advice.

"Is any one of you sick? He should call the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well, the Lord will raise him up. If he has sinned, he will be forgiven."

I don't want to deal here with how we are to pray for the sick. Different churches and denominations certainly pray for healing in different ways. But I want to deal with the theological foundations for healing in the church.

I will begin with the Power of Prayer.

There is no question that the Bible teaches the power of prayer. There are certainly more important things to pray for than physical healing. But if we pray for our needs they will include health and healing. I have terminal cancer. And I am always pleased with people who will pray for me. Several years ago I told one of my doctors I had been alive much longer than they had been willing to suggest because people were praying for me. He looked at me thoughtfully and then said, "That's right."

For many years I visited people in the hospital as a pastor. For the first twenty or so of those years I had the feeling that doctors were uncomfortable with me being there. Then something changed. Suddenly doctors started asking if I would step into intensive care units before they were admitting family members. What happened? The American Medical Journal published a study that showed a significantly higher rate of healing in patients who were being prayed for. Medical literature is replete with evidence for the effects of prayer. God has given that power to us.

However, I also need to point out the Humility of Faith.

God does not always answer prayer the way we expect. And while most of us know of dramatic examples of healing, we have also prayed for people who did not get well. I think this may be the main reason many of us are reluctant to pray formally and somewhat publicly over someone who is sick. Will I be embarrassed if God does not heal this person immediately? And there is of course the concern that the Name of God might be dishonored if I pray for healing when He has something else in mind. I am thankful that we can trust God to protect us from harmful prayers we might pray. I trust God to give me what I would have prayed for if I knew everything He sees. If I know that, surely I can trust God when He does not heal the way I want Him to heal. We can trust the outcome to God.

And we need to see healing as commensurate with the Compassion of Our Lord.

The early church saw compassion for the sick as the natural expression of faith in Christ. In his book, The Rise of Christianity, Rodney Stark points out that one of the major factors in the upstart Christian faith supplanting the dominant, pervasive, and enforced paganism in the Roman Empire was the terrible plagues that swept the country. While the pagans were casting former loved ones out into the dirt to keep from contracting the deadly disease, Christians risked their lives to minister to them. Many gladly died showing Christ's love to others. Stark quotes from letters written by the Emperor, Julian, to pagan priests, saying "Not only do the impious* Christians minister to their own sick, they minister to ours as well." A pagan had a better chance of surviving a plague if he lived near a believer.

Finally, we pray for healing to bring about the Witness of Praise.

We honor God simply by praying to Him for others, believers and unbelievers alike. And we share His glory by telling people what God has done. Healing prayer becomes a springboard for talking to people about things that are more important and enduring than physical healing. It is a fact that all physical healing is temporary. It is also important for us to know that all illness is temporary for believers. 1 Corinthians 13 says that is also true of knowledge and prophecy. And like the foolishness of preaching, God may use it powerfully to bring forth His kingdom on the earth. 

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PRAY FOR MY WRITING

I seldom hesitate to ask my readers to pray for me. I need prayer in so many areas of my life. I need prayer for spiritual strength. I need you to pray for moral purity. I need prayer for my attitudes and thinking. I need you to pray for my prayer life. I seldom preach now, although I still could and would preach if God gave me opportunities. Prayer is my most important ministry. And in deed I need you to pray for my writing.

I have always worked at my writing. The first thing I wrote for publication was written my sophomore year in college. That was 1968. I have written regularly since then. But I never imagined I would come to a point where I would spend most of my days writing. God had to allow me to be afflicted with cancer before I would consider it. I had to lack the energy necessary to pastor a church before I would consider retiring. And yet He has granted me many years beyond what the doctors thought, to write and keep on writing.

In Isaiah 30:8 the Lord spoke to the prophet.

"Go now, write it on a tablet for them, inscribe it on a scroll, that for the days to come it may it may be an everlasting witness."

I need you to pray that I will be faithful to write. I don't know how much time God will give me. I have six more books planned, if He allows. I need you to pray that I will know what God wants me to write. Most of all I need you to pray for God to use my writing by His mighty power. Just like a sermon, the effect of writing depends upon God. Pray for Him to be glorified beyond all measure by His hand on my writing.

HOME IN THE WILDERNESS, my third and final(?) novel in The Wilderness Series has been released. https://goo.gl/pJA4jK

This Saturday, June 18, 2016, the Kindle edition of HOME IN THE WILDERNESS can be downloaded free. I am hoping some of you will read it and put a good review on Amazon. Most of all I trust you to pray.

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RIGHTEOUSNESS EXALTS A NATION

Proverbs 14:34 reads,

"Righteousness exalts a nation,

but sin is a disgrace to any people."

I recently read a speech by Winston Churchill entitled The Defense of Freedom and Peace. It was subtitled, The Lights are Going Out. The great orator proclaimed to Americans who had not yet entered the war that it is the conflict of spiritual and moral ideas which gives free countries their strength. Especially in the light of history resistance against the domination of the Nazis should not be seen in any other way. By some estimates they put as many as 20 million people to death simply because of their race, or their weaknesses, or unwillingness to support the evil cause.

Even 70 and 80 years later we can feel good about our sacrifices to defeat that evil regime. But where are we in the world today? Where are we as a nation? Since 1973 Americans have brutally extinguished nearly 60 million innocent lives simply because we found them inconvenient.

This was not done by our government. We do not have S.S. troops pounding at our doors in the middle of the night. We did this ourselves to those who by any reckoning were the most innocent among us. Most Americans now admit that abortion is wrong. It is interesting to me that many people say they believe abortion is wrong to justify not doing anything about it. We believe abortion is wrong, so we must be free from responsibility before God, or history for that matter.  

But what can we do? I am sympathetic with those who see the crisis as overwhelming. But nothing is impossible with God. Let me suggest three essential approaches to the problem.

First come to this crisis with humility and compassion. We all share in the cultural, intellectual and moral corruption that has swallowed up our nation. This is not simply the problem of churches that did not stand against abortion. This is not simply the fault of another political party or someone else. Most of us would agree that German people who ignored the disappearance of their Jewish neighbors or were afraid to speak up no matter what it cost them, shared in the guilt.

And we who are also guilty need to seek ways of ministering to girls faced with unwanted pregnancy, and unplanned and unwanted children. Do we have means to intervene in the lives of young people who realize they have sacrificed their vision of the future on the altar of sexual freedom?

Next, address the problem with wisdom and intelligence. If we simply demonize political opponents or shout at them in protest, rather than listening to their arguments and seeking to persuade people, we will make little headway in the issue.

Finally, we must face this problem in prayer and worship. We will not turn this evil around without the mighty hand of God. We need to see this as a matter of spiritual war, crying out to God about every issue small and great. We have no greater weapon in spiritual warfare than worship that connects us with God Himself.

The culture of death is a daunting reality. But it is no greater than slavery that the enemy foisted on our fathers a few generations back. Against all social, economic, and political odds Great Britain outlawed the vile trade on her far flung shores. And eventually Americans were willing to plunge ourselves into a horrible civil war.

If your faith is not built on a powerful relationship with Almighty God you will not be able to pay whatever price is demanded of us to defeat this horrible plague.