Talk of JESUS . com

Tag: Lord

Prayer List
May our Lord and Savior, Christ Jesus, who we worship with the Father and Holy Spirit, kneed our impenitent hearts of stone into soft sands of His overflowing love. Amen.

To begin, let’s not forget that God is a Person who cares about us. In Christ Jesus we have a personal relationship with the Living God!

And by our intimate relationship with the God of Heaven, a spirit to Spirit relationship the Bible describes as most like that of a wife to her husband, we have the intimacy of the love of God and the ear of His loving heart.

Who, then, do we pray for? (and to whom do we pray?)

Can we begin any relationship without attention given to the intimacy of love between the one who asks and the person we would have answer?

IF you ignore the loving question of your loved one, how is it that you ask God and expect to receive an answer? His is an even more intimate relationship, not unlike that of husband and his wife.

Did I say, ‘His wife?’

Yes. Unless we are submitted to Jesus Christ as our Lord, He cannot be the Bridegroom of our hope. What a shame that He would say to you, betrothed christian, “I never knew you.”

Prayer is most personal with the Person of God!

If we pray privately, which I pray you do and will do so even more, the intimacy will give you more understanding of His will, alongside your dedicated devotion to the scripture of God’s written and living word. (I am too often guilty of a lack of intimacy in my prayer with God, a lack of time and commitment.)

Privately, (& trying to praise and thank the lover of my soul) I ask God my Lord for what I need, showing me what I need rather than what I want which is not in His will. I guess that I would say that I NEED God to sustain me in my prayer for my own heart-felt needs.

Corporately, that is in praying as part of our church or a prayer group, I find that prayers like my deepest prayers to God are sorely neglected by most of those asking ONLY for prayers for others, not confessing our own deepest hurts, needs, and desires for God’s love and the love of our Christian community.

We border on hypocrisy in our false, hopeful faces before our brothers and sisters in Christ.

If we only ask prayer for our family, friends, loved ones and others, while hiding the depths of our brokenness from those who would, along with God, sustain us in prayer; is our prayer request not disingenuous, an easier substitute for our own heart-felt needs for love and prayer?

Our God is a God of relationships – loving relationships. We dare not neglect His expected intimacy in our prayer relationships in which we would intercede for others by our own prayers.

I pray first for my wife, then for our three (grown) children. I try to do this more than daily. This has always been my first priority of prayer.

I try also to pray for my Christian family, as if they are nearer to me than my own biological family; for through Christ in eternity, they are also adopted alongside me into His body, through the Blood of His Holy Sacrifice of love for all of our sins.

Pray first for the person. Pray then for their need.

I try to bow my head and thank God in prayer before I eat or enter into some activity of the day. (I seek to do this both privately and publicly as witness.) This is not so much about the person, as it is for our immediate need. For example, my wife once insisted on praying for our safety most times we left home in the car. Our security and safety are needs, of course. Yet the soul of a loved one is certainly more important to God and to me than any thing I might ask for a trip across town.

Is it right that one who claims Jesus as “Lord,” should pray for help in winning in the world so that they might live comfortable in Christ?

Do you pray that you or someone in your family will ‘hit the Lottery’ and help answer your unanswered prayers? Do you pray for a blessing from God, nearer than the blessing God already sent for you to have and to hold?

We know the true answer in Christ.

Yet is not forgiveness and grace so necessary in dealing with the struggles and sins of our most beloved ones as they trustingly share the concerns of their own heart?

The false face of our prayer requests (sometimes)

Some of the sins of our lives and struggles of our flesh remain even more as anathema to ‘church’ prayers. Who will hear our cries to God, a crying out for help, love, forgiveness and grace; cries from some of our beloved Christian sisters and brothers?

Dare you even mention one of these at ‘church?’

Dare your brother or sister even mention: an abortion, adultery, a homosexual experience, pornography or any other such ‘christian’ taboo?

Dare any of our Christian youth even mention the passions and indiscretions which most commonly lead to the pregnancies the church must hide? For that matter, dare one divorced, widowed or unmarried for a time ask the help of a brother (sister) in prayer for the same?

Dare any ‘grace-faced christian’ even reveal these struggles and prayers to a pastor, let alone a dear friend of the church? Again, let us be careful not to judge too harshly.

You know why you put on the mask of hypocrisy.

Do you not suspect that those you love in Christ are not threatened by the judgment of your rejection?

How difficult it is for us to not judge (for even Jesus would not judge). I am guilty. May the Lord have mercy on me, for I endure the punishment of His curse. Yet I include loved ones guilty of each or these sins just mentioned and more in my prayers to God.

If God can forgive them (should they turn to His love), how can I not also pray for their repentance and return to God through the same Blood of Christ Jesus shed for me?

David committed adultery with a woman and murdered her husband! Yet when the man after God’s own heart finally repented, David prayed:

Against you, you only, have I sinned
and done what is evil in your sight,
so that you may be justified in your words
and blameless in your judgment. – Psalm 51

How difficult it is for us to reprove in love – give a Christian sinner the help for which they have asked God in their own deepest prayer. How difficult to love AND forgive those most dear to us.

Yet by the Blood of Christ, God has covered even our sins of today (in addition to those long past).

Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven,
whose sin is covered. – Psalm 32:1

The revelation of God’s love for us is in Christ Jesus, who died on the Cross and IS risen! He hears our pray. Jesus hears our plea. He is revealed to us. We are freed by his blood.

Amazingly, by his blood, we are made His Priests and His intercessors!

Revelation 1:5 … and from Jesus Christ the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of kings on earth. To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood.

To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood 6 and made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.

Help us, God. Help us, beloved believer. We all need prayer. Allow us, as His Priests to intercede for those near and dear to our hearts and our souls.

Who is important in your life?

Are you praying for your VIP in humble humility to God and asking your loving brothers and sisters in Christ to stand by you in prayer for their needs?

Who is most import in God’s will?
- A husband to his wife &
- A wife to her husband.
- BOTH parents to every child.
- a loving father to all of his children, at home and by example in Christ,
- a nurturing mother to all of her children, at home and by example in Christ.
We all FAIL in some of these most important relationships God expects from us in His love, don’t we?

So why not ask God, with whom we have a personal relationship in prayer, to help us to do what is right in His will and not our own?

And why not ask our most intimate of friends, Christian brothers (sisters), who care for us in Christ deeply, to support us in prayer for these same relational needs for the VIP’s of our daily life? Sometimes the difficulty of these struggles of life are more appropriate for a small group of believers or even one life-minded brother (or sister) in the Lord, than for the prayer list of the entire church (often as fodder for speculation and gossip).

It seems the ‘perfect christians’ must go to some other church.

OR perhaps some we know just hide behind their masks of Christ’s perfection.

Let us, dearly beloved of Christ Jesus, love them as He has loved us.

Let us bow down before the Lord our God in great humility, with hearts overflowing in love and pouring forth forgiveness, through our prayers for for the family of Christ Jesus. Amen.

How may I pray for you, adding you to my personal prayer list?

Please comment. If you would like any of our readers to also pray for you, please share your personal prayer needs with us.

(IF you would rather have your request remain private, please begin your comment with the word, ‘Private,’ and I will not post it publicly.)

Pray also for me, that I might return to a purer committed faith in God to both hear and answer my ceaseless prayers for my most beloved.

Roger Harned, author and site administrator
February 1, 2015
Prayer: Begin with God

To begin, let us get over how selfish we are, even by our prayers for loved ones.

He IS God! and I am not.

What is prayer, anyway? (Think about it. What is a prayer? Why would you even bother to pray?)

Prayer is many things. Most of our mind and flesh would relegate prayer to a single context (a selfish context, I might add) called petition. We have a prayer request or petition to bring before God.

However at its most basic level, prayer is a communication between a mere mortal and the Immortal Almighty God.

Do you believe in God? Do you believe that God IS, has been before time as we know it and will be forever beyond our timeline to the infinite?

God is NOT finite. God is NOT in everything.

God cannot be defined or placed into a box of definition or a time observable in the laboratory of life.

“God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” – John 4:24

“I who speak to you am he.” – John 4:26b

“But when the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me. – John 15:26

And we do not require any mediator between sinful man and a Holy God other than Christ Jesus! He IS the Very Living Person of the Trinity of Almighty God, sent as Perfect Adam and Perfect Sacrifice for our sins.

WHO are you and I praying to? IS God a man (or woman) like us? Certainly not! Is any mediator or example required of any man (or woman) other than Christ Jesus?

NO!

No holy mother, no living lama, no prophet, no priest, no ancestor, no spirit, no angel, no law. Yet as servants of our Master, Christ Jesus, we must obey the scripture, as our Lord has spoken and commanded.

No intercessor other than Christ Jesus and the Holy Spirit is required! Christ our Lord who warned: “And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many.” – Matthew 24:11 KJV

Worship only God; because the ransom paid for our sin on the Cross by our Savior and Redeemer, Christ Jesus, Who IS and was and will return on the clouds as King to rule in His righteous love: over all mankind, all angels and all creation – the Perfect price of your soul you cannot afford; no ransom for the dead will bring resurrection to the darkness of a soul buried in sin.

So I ask you again of your prayer: Do you believe in God?

Do you believe that Jesus Christ IS the resurrected and living Son of God, Who lived and died for our sins as a son of man (technically, Mary)? And do you believe all Jesus said, including His promise of the Holy Spirit to intervene with God our Father (a more loving Image than that of God the Judge of all righteousness)?

Do you think of God as a Person?

Then as Jesus instructed, let us first bow down humbly to Him as our Lord. Let us worship the Lord first, before all of our selfish petitions and requests.

And he said unto them, When ye pray, say,

Our Father which art in heaven,

Hallowed be thy name.

Thy kingdom come.

Thy will be done,

as in heaven, so in earth.

Luke 11:2 KJV

Should our pattern for prayer not resemble the outline of scripture?

Even the Commandments begin with four concerning God, followed by six for the actions of man. And did Christ our Lord not give a ‘greatest commandment,’ even prior to our oft’ repeated golden rule, as prerequisite prelude of worship of the Lord our God?

Matthew 22: 37 And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. 38 This is the great and first commandment.

Therefore let us worship the Lord our God, before we presumptuously approach the Throne of Glory with our lowly petitions and requests for our daily wants and needs, which our All-knowing and loving God does know.

Let us tell the Lord His worth: even before we ask, even as we ask, even as He does not answer, God – our loving God who sacrificed His only Son Christ Jesus on the Cross for our sin – our loving Father for this prodigal of the flesh: He hears our prayers.

He would have us ask, once we bow down to His Will and His ways, which are Higher and more knowing than our own sinful ways.

Ask, and it will be given to you. Seek, and you will find. Pray, and the Lord will listen; for His heart is kind and gentle for those who love Him.

Christ Jesus IS Lord.

Ask Him and ask me; for I will also pray for you, as you pray to God for your own needs.

Pray also for me. (And next time we will talk about our petitions of prayer.)

To be continued…

January 30, 2015
Your ATTN: required

20 Jan, 2015, In the US, President Obama, the most powerful man in this world, gave the President’s annual State of the Union address to the US congress and a worldwide audience. (I have neither heard it nor previewed it, but rest assured his priorities are not mine or yours.)

1 January, 2015, You were likely one of millions to make at least one or a list of New Year’s resolutions. (You’ve had three weeks. How are you doing with that?)

10 July, 2007, We were on our honeymoon in beautiful St. Lucia. I wanted to establish some important priorities for our new marriage, concepts borrowed from “The 7 Habits of Highly Organized People” by Steven Covey, from which the graphic for this post is taken. My bride was recuperating from another chemo-therapy treatment (not your usual honeymoon activity) and wanted nothing to do with it. I trashed the book.

Plan all you want; some things are important and some are not.

Some events become urgent, most do not.

As a good manager of my life I want to always plan for the important things and important people of my future.

As the poor manager of my time and relationships (as all-to-frequently I am), I gravitate from the important to the unimportant (as Covey warns) and neglect the inevitable importance of those life events and people which will surly come without warning. (No, I still have not updated my will… for instance.)

And who would ever think to plan so poorly to have a honeymoon right after a cancer treatment. My urgency and reasons failed to stand in the importance of time.

I have led a successful and fruitful life in past times in more than one career. (I cannot claim that in this particular fleeting moment of eternal time).

A man like me (perhaps like you) came to Jesus right when he was on top.

What can you do for my portfolio, Jesus? Does your new mega-church need some money? I know you have the power here.

Can you help me out here? What can you do for me? (Everybody wants me to be part of their church boards and leadership, you know.) How can I help you, Jesus? I know you could do just this one thing for me, please.

Now you may claim to have never seen this man in the Gospel and that he never said that. Yet look closer to this familiar story (remembering how rich almost ALL Americans and Europeans are (along with a select, exclusive group of the rich in nearly every country throughout the world).

Consider that you are the RICH man coming up to Jesus. Later we will reconsider our priorities: their urgency and their importance.

Luke 12:

The Parable of the Rich Fool

¹³Someone in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.”

¹⁴But he [Jesus] said to him, “Man, who made me a judge or arbitrator over you?”

Now this is NOT the answer we rich women and rich men expect as an answer from Jesus, is it?

My father is currently blessed with long life. He is 91. My mother went to be with the Lord in 2007. I have three siblings. (As I mentioned, I have not even updated my own will. {Shame on me..}) For me, this scenario of the rich man could well take place at anytime in the next decade. So easily could I come to Jesus and ask Him to be an arbitrator over my inheritance of earthly riches.

I’ve had some tough times the past few years… been taken advantage of… lost much. (Nobody bailed me out. No one replaced my income or market losses.) I once had extra storage and extra accounts for all my wealth! But not now.

Can Jesus help me?

Listen to our Lord’s reply:

¹⁵And he said to them, “Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.” ¹⁶And he told them a parable, saying,

“The land of a rich man produced plentifully, ¹⁷and he thought to himself, ‘What shall I do, for I have nowhere to store my crops?’ ¹⁸And he said, ‘I will do this: I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods.

¹⁹And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.”’

“Eat, drink and be merry.” You have heard it quoted back to you out of context that this is straight from the Bible from the teaching of Jesus.

But the rest of the expression, “for tomorrow you die,” though true, is not the application of Jesus’ teaching.

²⁰But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’ ²¹So is the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God.”

“God said to him, ‘Fool!’

Jesus is not warning us to party now, because one day you will die (and it could be as soon as tomorrow). He is not telling the man not to save some of his wealth, either. Jesus is telling the man that he is saving up for the wrong priorities and possibly a wrong day (of his life) for which he is planning, but does not expect.

Do Not Be Anxious

²²And he said to his disciples, “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat, nor about your body, what you will put on.

Jesus does not tell the man not to plan his barns. Jesus does not tell the man not to save his money for a future need. Jesus does not even tell the man to give some money to his church so that God will bless him. What a ludicrous call to an offering; but it is so often the hope of the rich man who wants and covets even more. (I’ll listen to this preacher and give him a little, because he promises that God will give me even more if I give to his church.)

What was important to Jesus, then? What did Jesus think the rich man should plan. What does Jesus think you should plan? For after all, tomorrow may be the day your soul is required of you.

Eternity is a long time. How close our entrance into the rest before judgment! By comparison even to the urgency of life’s every day trials and the importance of this mortal life’s focus on a lifetime; how near we stand each God-given day to the treasure of heaven, or how near we teeter toward the precipice of sin’s backsliding into a long punishment of Hell!

Does God say to you, “Fool!?”

Do you think that any investment of your time and money will keep the steep cliff of sin upon which you stand from the collapse of landsliding time? Do you have any hope of surviving the fall without the Savior of the fallen to lift you toward light?

Jesus Christ has promised us an inheritance in heaven. He has guaranteed our reward by His sacrifice for our sins – and these are many – on the bloody Cross.

Focus on your eternal future. Manage your earthly time and money. Invest in Christ’s righteousness. This, of course, in addition to worshiping God and giving some of your time and money to the church, means that like Christ Jesus, our Lord (so we claim), we must always love God, always love people (and so many of us are so hard to love – really).

Do not be deceived by your dreams and desires for a bigger barn on earth. Do not be swayed to avoid the thought that you are mortal and a God-appointed day for the end of this life awaits you.

Do you think its enough to spend a little time and a pittance of pocket change at church once a week? Is that your storage barn of heaven?

Let us plan for eternal life by our investment in our daily life. Let it be for Christ Jesus, who sacrificed everything for you and for me.

Jesus paid the price for your soul. Yet if you do not follow Him as lord of your life, you will not have the ransom for your soul, required to pay for your sin.

Dearly beloved, mortal sister, mortal brother of this failing flesh: please do not be the rich fool. Repent! Turn back to bow down to Jesus as your Lord, our only Saviour, while it is yet today.

For all we know, tomorrow! – your soul may be required of you.

January 21, 2015