40 Days of Prayer - Thursday, June 20 - Devotion 24 - Touching His Hem - Scott Gardner

Touching His Hem

Mark 5:24-29 (ESV)

And a great crowd followed him and thronged about him. And there was a woman who had had a discharge of blood for twelve years, and who had suffered much under many physicians, and had spent all that she had, and was no better but rather grew worse. She had heard the reports about Jesus and came up behind him in the crowd and touched his garment. For she said, “If I touch even his garments, I will be made well.” And immediately the flow of blood dried up, and she felt in her body that she was healed of her disease.

 Wherever Jesus went, the people flocked to see Him. In Mark chapter 5, the crowds have thronged around Him, jostling each other to see or even perhaps speak to Him. Imagine the noise and the chaos as they press closer and closer. Also see a woman who has suffered for many years gradually working her way through the crowd, slowly getting closer to Jesus. “If I can only touch Him, I will be made well!” She finally is able to reach out and touch his clothing, and she is healed. Jesus confronts her and then says, “Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace, and be healed of your disease.”

This is an amazing story isn’t it? However, in some ways, it is a very sad story as well. This woman had spent the past twelve years visiting doctors who could not help her. She had lost all her savings and had found no relief. Then she turned to Jesus and immediately found the help she so desperately needed. Jesus was this woman’s last resort. She had tried everything else first.

Unfortunately, we often do the same. When we find ourselves in difficulty, it is so easy to run to our friends for comfort and advice, or to browse the bookshelf for the latest best-seller before we ever turn to God.

Is prayer your last resort? Do you try everything else and then ask God for His help? Where do you turn when the worries of the world press in on you from every side? Are you determined to get closer to Jesus and ask for His help? Prayer should be our first reaction in every situation. Jesus says that we do not have because we do not ask (James 4:2). In other words, “Don’t waste your time seeking help from the world, come to Me and ask Me for help, and I will answer you.”

Proverbs 18:10 (ESV)

The name of the Lord is a strong tower; the righteous man runs into it and is safe.

40 Days of Prayer - Wednesday, June 19 - Devotion 23 - Prayer Time - John Toler

Prayer Time?

Prayer is our personal time with our Heavenly Father. There are many times we have prayer during the day to help with situations, stand in the gap for friends/family members the Spirit brings to mind, or emergencies within our lives which need attention.  This kind of prayerful attitude is the praying without ceasing the Word teaches us about. However, we should not limit our time before the Throne to these instances alone.  We should always be in an attitude of prayer so we can come to our Heavenly Father in prayer at any time.  Furthermore, there should always be time in our day when we come to God in prayer and long for deeper communication with Him.

  We all live in a busy world, often times overlooking the need for deep, intimate, and personal communication within our relationships.  What do we find happening in our earthly relationships when healthy communication is not fostered?  We find the relationship almost always suffers under these circumstances.   All the sudden we aren’t on the same page anymore, we aren’t hearing things correctly,   and the tide of the relationship is not flowing smoothly.  Probably more important than any other consequence is the loss of intimacy and oneness of that relationship. The same is true, if not more so, in our personal time with God.

So what is prayer time?  It is our personal communication with God and worship of God.   Are we making sure we set time aside to have this deeper communication?  Do we truly value the opportunity we have in communicating with our Heavenly Father? 

Luke5:16   But He (Jesus) would withdraw to desolate places and pray.

Psalm 17:6   I call upon you, for you will answer me, O God; incline your ear to me; hear my words.

Psalm 88:13 But I, O Lord, cry to you; in the morning my prayer comes before you.

40 Days of Prayer - Tuesday, June 18 - Devotion 22 - Good Gifts

Good Gifts

Matthew 7:11 - If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!

Psalm 34: 8-10 - Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good!  Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him!   Oh, fear the Lord, you his saints, for those who fear him have no lack!
 The young lions suffer want and hunger; but those who seek the Lord lack no good thing.

Upon first reading of these Scriptures, it may seem our Father has some Santa Claus attributes where He is willing to give whatever we ask in prayer.  However, the verses say He gives good things and that His children lack no good thing.  Our Father’s view from Heaven allows Him to know what is good.  He knows what gifts will draw His children to Himself and what will bring Him glory, honor, and praise.  His good gifts may be illness or disappointment or a loss of job and they can be finding a job or encouragement or health.  When we pray in accordance with His will, we should feel confident that His deep love for His children and His name will only allow good things to be given.

Those who seek and trust Him have all the things necessary to serve and bring Him glory.  We lack nothing good.  Therefore, if there is something we want and the Lord hasn’t provided it after we have asked with right motives, then that thing must not be good.  Knowing we have what He considers good should result in contentment in our lives.  The Word teaches us to be content in all circumstances.  Without contentment, we become influenced by our desires for things we do not have and James 1 says our desires are what lead us to sin.

Praise Him today for all things He has given regardless of whether they seem good in our own understanding.  Trust Him to know what is good.    

40 Days of Prayer - Monday, June 17 - Devotion 21

Hindrances to Prayer  Part 1
Sunday's Message

It is a fact that, although all Christians pray (for prayer is indeed the believer’s source of all that is good), yet there are many who cannot record in actual experience a definite answer to the plea & cry of their hearts.

 It is important for us to hear, in our focus on prayer in this 40 Days, that there may be, and often are, hindrances to prayer that would cause God to withhold what we ask of Him. To Israel He said, “Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy that it cannot hear; but your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid His face from you, that He will not hear” (Isaiah 59:1-2). And the Psalmist plainly declares, “If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me” (Psalm 66:18). Words like these are often forgotten? Do we not, at times carelessly come into the God’s presence making requests of Him, only to get no answer from heaven because we have been careless and self-absorbed instead of absorbed by Him?

Let me explain why these hindrances keep us from getting our prayers answered.

1^st remember why we pray. For God’s Glory and for His will to be done. This is why we must ask in faith, this is why prayer changes us and when our concern is for His glory and His will He so aligns us and we receive what we ask of Him.  That’s the first thing we must remember. That was the challenge for us the last two weeks.

 2^nd We must remember that God said in Romans 8:28, that we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him and are called according to His purpose.  Now, our definition of good and God’s definition of good may be different. As Jesus said, No one enters the Kingdom of Heaven unless he changes and becomes like a little child. We must so humble ourselves before him and depend upon Him for all goodness to happen in our lives and that He will so treat us in a way that is good for He alone is good. 

 3^rd Jesus said in Luke 11:9-13,  9 And I tell you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 10 For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. 11 What father among you, if his son asks for a fish, will instead of a fish give him a serpent; 12 or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? 13 If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”

 So often we may think we are asking for a fish or an egg but what if the very thing we are asking for is really a serpent or a scorpion, something dangerous to us. Would we as parents give such a thing to our children if we knew it would do more harm than good? So who do you trust, yourself or your God?

 This is why Hindrances keep God from giving us what we ask. I say this so that we may truly understand the love of God in not answering our prayers when there are hindrances in our lives. Why?, we are asking amiss. We are asking with cherished sin in our heart. We are asking with the wrong motives that we may spend what we get on our own pleasure. We are asking with a heart that is not right before God and if He gives us what we ask it may do more harm to us than good. So remember the Love God has for us in not answering because of hindrances in our lives.

 Hindrances

1.     Cherished sin – Psalm 66:18-20
18 If I had cherished (regard, seen, perceived, gazed upon)  iniquity (Sin) in my heart, the Lord would not have listened. 19 But truly God has listened; he has attended to the voice of my prayer. 20 Blessed be God, because he has not rejected my prayer or removed his steadfast love from me!

 Isaiah 59:1-2 Behold, the Lord's hand is not shortened, that it cannot save, or his ear dull, that it cannot hear; 2 but your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not hear.

See also Ezekiel 14:1-11

 

2.     Not listening to God’s word - Proverbs 28:9 If one turns away his ear from hearing the law, even his prayer is an abomination.

 1 John 3:20-22 21 Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God; 22 and whatever we ask we receive from him, because we keep his commandments and do what pleases him.

 John 15:7 7 If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.

 If we are not willing to listen to God, why should God listen to us.

Without submitting ourselves to Scripture, we may not even know what and how to pray. We pray best and most effectively when we are saturated in the Word of God.

 3.     Wrong Motives - James 4:1-10 What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you? 2 You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask. 3 You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions. 4 You adulterous people!  Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. 5 Or do you suppose it is to no purpose that the Scripture says, “He yearns jealously over the spirit that he has made to dwell in us”? 6 But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” 7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8 Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. 9 Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. 10 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.

 This word wrongly here in the Greek means sickly or diseased.  It’s as though James is saying you are diseased with earthly passions and pleasures and desires instead of for God’s pleasures and desires. You pleasure is to feed the flesh and not the spirit. It is a self-seeking asking. Matthew 6:33 says to seek His kingdom first

4.     Doubt – James 1:6-7

Now you won’t catch this next one in the ESV but it ever so clear in the Greek.

1 Timothy 2:8 (ESV) 8 I desire then that in every place the men should pray, lifting holy hands without anger or quarreling

1 Timothy 2:8 (KJV) 8 I will therefore that men pray everywhere, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and doubting. (NIV) - disputing

The Greek word that is translated here as quarreling in ESV and doubting in KJV is the word dialogismos and it means the thinking of a man deliberating with himself,  a thought, inward reasoning,  a deliberating, questioning about what is true,  hesitation, doubting, disputing, arguing

 

Spend time today in prayer asking God to search your heart and reveal hindrances to your prayers.

40 Days Of Prayer - Saturday, June 15 - Scripture Reading

Hindrances to Prayer

Psalm 66:18
¹⁸ If I had cherished iniquity in my heart, the Lord would not have listened.

2 Chronicles 7:13-15
¹³ When I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or command the locust to devour the land, or send pestilence among my people, ¹⁴ if 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 and will forgive their sin and heal their land. ¹⁵ Now my eyes will be open and my ears attentive to the prayer that is made in this place.

James 4:3:10
³ You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions. ⁴ You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. ⁵ Or do you suppose it is to no purpose that the Scripture says, “He yearns jealously over the spirit that he has made to dwell in us”? ⁶ But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” ⁷ Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. ⁸ Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. ⁹ Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. ¹⁰ Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.

Matthew 6:5-6
⁵ “And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. ⁶ But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

James 1:5-8
⁵ If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. ⁶ But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. ⁷ For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; ⁸ he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.

1 Peter 3:7
⁷ Likewise, husbands, live with your wives in an understanding way, showing honor to the woman as the weaker vessel, since they are heirs with you of the grace of life, so that your prayers may not be hindered.

Psalm 34:12-16 & 1 Peter 3:10-12
¹² What man is there who desires life and loves many days, that he may see good?
¹³ Keep your tongue from evil and your lips from speaking deceit.
¹⁴ Turn away from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it.

¹⁵ The eyes of the Lord are toward the righteous and his ears toward their cry.
¹⁶ The face of the Lord is against those who do evil, to cut off the memory of them from the earth.