Continuing..... If you have read my blog for a while, you will notice notice similarities with Pastor Bill's sermon and a previous entry...
Pastor Bill was in rare form that Sunday. The Spirit was moving throughout the congregation and spoke through him.
"Brothers and sister, I have wrestled about the topic this week. So I am going to share a few things that have been rolling around in my head.
First, while I have long believed prayer was a way for us to communicate with God, I am beginning to think it is more than a means of talking. To think of it like we are just picking up a telephone to talk to God grossly underestimates prayer. Prayer is very important.
Many years ago, I went on a mission trip to Central America. I was amazed at the miracles I witnessed there. I believed that God was working mightily there and He was and still is. But what I missed at the time was the number of people praying for us during this trip. All the people that sponsored me for the trip and those who couldn’t afford to sponsor me prayed for me and my companions. There were other people praying for my companions. We were all praying for each other and the missionaries. We were praying for the people we would meet. We prayed that God would bring the people who needed to hear the message. There was a lot of praying going on and God moved. Even still, it never struck me until recently that many people had to pray for God to work the way He did. It wasn’t some miracle the missionaries did. It wasn’t because God just works miracles there. God can and will work miracles everywhere but people have to pray for them.
Second, God is so overwhelmingly grand that, really, any thought we have of Him falls terribly short. Nevertheless, I truly believe that the Lord wants us to strive for Him. Therefore, He has no issues with our puny thinking unless we never venture to learn more about Him. Parents are excited with each new life stage of their baby. So God is pleased with each step we take in understanding and obeying Him.
Next, let me share a parable Jesus told in Luke 11:5
5 Then Jesus said to them, “Suppose you have a friend, and you go to him at midnight and say, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves of bread; 6 a friend of mine on a journey has come to me, and I have no food to offer him.’ 7 And suppose the one inside answers, ‘Don’t bother me. The door is already locked, and my children and I are in bed. I can’t get up and give you anything.’ 8 I tell you, even though he will not get up and give you the bread because of friendship, yet because of your shameless audacity he will surely get up and give you as much as you need.
Now can you imagine what the disciples were thinking? They heard Jesus tell many parables and they understood that the different people in the stories normally represented people on earth or God. I’m sure they realized that the person knocking on the door was them. But then that makes God…. This isn’t such a good picture of God is it? Does Jesus really want us to view His Father as a grumpy man who tells us to go away when we need something? This man had a genuine need. In that culture it was imperative to feed and take care of visitors.
So what is Jesus saying? I believe He is telling us that God wants to know if we are serious. Do we take seriously the things we pray about? Are you willing to knock and knock and knock and knock and knock and KNOCK on God’s door? Are the things you are praying for important enough to you that God knows it? God honors those who are persistent and won't give up until God blesses them. Jacob wrestled with an angel and wouldn't let go until he was blessed.
We are to ask until it is given. We are to seek until we find. We are to knock until He answers. God wants us to fight and struggle. All of nature is survival of the fittest. He wants us to wrestle with angels. He wants the problems of life to be nothing compared to our fervor for Him. Discouragement should not shake our faith, nor silence our prayers. It is not in our own strength that we wrestle, nor by our own strength that we prevail. It is by strength derived from heaven.
Let me finish by saying this: Since God is all powerful, all knowing and everything else that He is, I'm starting to believe that our persistence honors Him. When I think about the days when kings, pharaohs, and Caesars ruled the earth, people prostrated themselves before the king. They had to make grand gestures to the king to be noticed and to pacify his wrath. You could say God is narcissistic to want to be worshipped but since He really IS all that and a bag of chips, He does deserve all that we can give and more.
Jesus gave us a clue to our relationship with God. Prayer. Prayer is one way that we honor and glorify God. When we persist in our praying, we show God that this is not a one sided relationship. We take it seriously and consider it and Him the most important things in our lives.
Let us pray…."
Pastor Bill was in rare form that Sunday. The Spirit was moving throughout the congregation and spoke through him.
"Brothers and sister, I have wrestled about the topic this week. So I am going to share a few things that have been rolling around in my head.
First, while I have long believed prayer was a way for us to communicate with God, I am beginning to think it is more than a means of talking. To think of it like we are just picking up a telephone to talk to God grossly underestimates prayer. Prayer is very important.
Many years ago, I went on a mission trip to Central America. I was amazed at the miracles I witnessed there. I believed that God was working mightily there and He was and still is. But what I missed at the time was the number of people praying for us during this trip. All the people that sponsored me for the trip and those who couldn’t afford to sponsor me prayed for me and my companions. There were other people praying for my companions. We were all praying for each other and the missionaries. We were praying for the people we would meet. We prayed that God would bring the people who needed to hear the message. There was a lot of praying going on and God moved. Even still, it never struck me until recently that many people had to pray for God to work the way He did. It wasn’t some miracle the missionaries did. It wasn’t because God just works miracles there. God can and will work miracles everywhere but people have to pray for them.
Second, God is so overwhelmingly grand that, really, any thought we have of Him falls terribly short. Nevertheless, I truly believe that the Lord wants us to strive for Him. Therefore, He has no issues with our puny thinking unless we never venture to learn more about Him. Parents are excited with each new life stage of their baby. So God is pleased with each step we take in understanding and obeying Him.
Next, let me share a parable Jesus told in Luke 11:5
5 Then Jesus said to them, “Suppose you have a friend, and you go to him at midnight and say, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves of bread; 6 a friend of mine on a journey has come to me, and I have no food to offer him.’ 7 And suppose the one inside answers, ‘Don’t bother me. The door is already locked, and my children and I are in bed. I can’t get up and give you anything.’ 8 I tell you, even though he will not get up and give you the bread because of friendship, yet because of your shameless audacity he will surely get up and give you as much as you need.
Now can you imagine what the disciples were thinking? They heard Jesus tell many parables and they understood that the different people in the stories normally represented people on earth or God. I’m sure they realized that the person knocking on the door was them. But then that makes God…. This isn’t such a good picture of God is it? Does Jesus really want us to view His Father as a grumpy man who tells us to go away when we need something? This man had a genuine need. In that culture it was imperative to feed and take care of visitors.
So what is Jesus saying? I believe He is telling us that God wants to know if we are serious. Do we take seriously the things we pray about? Are you willing to knock and knock and knock and knock and knock and KNOCK on God’s door? Are the things you are praying for important enough to you that God knows it? God honors those who are persistent and won't give up until God blesses them. Jacob wrestled with an angel and wouldn't let go until he was blessed.
We are to ask until it is given. We are to seek until we find. We are to knock until He answers. God wants us to fight and struggle. All of nature is survival of the fittest. He wants us to wrestle with angels. He wants the problems of life to be nothing compared to our fervor for Him. Discouragement should not shake our faith, nor silence our prayers. It is not in our own strength that we wrestle, nor by our own strength that we prevail. It is by strength derived from heaven.
Let me finish by saying this: Since God is all powerful, all knowing and everything else that He is, I'm starting to believe that our persistence honors Him. When I think about the days when kings, pharaohs, and Caesars ruled the earth, people prostrated themselves before the king. They had to make grand gestures to the king to be noticed and to pacify his wrath. You could say God is narcissistic to want to be worshipped but since He really IS all that and a bag of chips, He does deserve all that we can give and more.
Jesus gave us a clue to our relationship with God. Prayer. Prayer is one way that we honor and glorify God. When we persist in our praying, we show God that this is not a one sided relationship. We take it seriously and consider it and Him the most important things in our lives.
Let us pray…."
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