Prayers

A very cool and clear mountaintop “good morning to ya!” I think it was 64deg. when I got up (my weather girl told me that.) Even though we face a pretty hectic week—some sadness —but more joy, there is still time to enjoy the quietness of early morning. It seems to me to be a great advantage with aging that we get up early. Some mornings I want to go back to sleep, but only do about once a week, or so.

This morning’s new information tells us another dear friend in Texas is having some serious health issues and is hospitalized. We’re praying for our friends about their loss and praying for our friends who are hospitalized. We could get seriously busy with our praying.

Speaking of praying, for many years it was an activity of which I remained very unsure. The verse, “The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much” is often misapplied. The verse is in the book of James, which from the outset, shows the words were meant for a small, specific group of God’s people. Yet, since it is about prayer, there is certainly an application for all who are believer’s of the gospel of Christ. (..how that Christ died for our sins, was buried, and was raised again for our justification..believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you’ll be saved.)

In Paul’s letters which are specifically to us today, Paul taught the reasons for and the manner of pray as we should apply and claim an “effectual fervent prayer” result. He writes in Philippians 4:6, Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.

Well, broken down phrase by phrase, this says don’t worry about a thing—talk with the Lord about everything, even if you want to beg—He’ll receive any request! These are tremendously serious instructions! Sounds like, if we just stop there, we can just get God on our side for anything we want! And there are people who believe that! But, wait, there’s a bit more to this instruction. The next verse alters our perspective considerably:

v.7 And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Hmm

Now then, if we do the same to this very conclusive verse as we did the previous, just for our understanding of it, it goes like this: the promise of God’s peace is still with you, especially now that you’ve told Him what you want—your heartaches should all be lifted—your mind should be at ease. If you feel the same again, repeat. But, if you don’t feel the urge to pray this request again, don’t beat yourself up about it, but account that the will of the Lord in this matter is to be praised and He is to be thanked for the peace and clear thinking He has granted you.

Maybe thinking about the prayers we offer will be more restful now. After all, Paul’s first prayer explanation said we didn’t really know what to pray for, anyway—see Rom.8:26. That comforts me somehow. Maybe that relieves me unto speaking more freely to the Lord, since I know He knows I’m just a novice at this.

No real clear SIMH this morning. But, some of the words of a song came to me while writing this: “If you want joy, real joy, wonderful joy, let Jesus come into your heart. Your sins He’ll wipe away, your night He’ll turn to day, your life, He’ll make it over anew.”   and so it is.

Thanks for reading, the Elder