The Cup or the Promises?

On May 23, 2017   /   Prayer  

Things Above Thoughts
TAT # 108 The Cup or the Promises?

Recently I was asked why I always end my prayer with “please come quickly Lord Jesus.” Then someone said “yeah, it’s going to happen anyway so why pray for it?” This is something with which I constantly struggle. I pray for it because not only is it the last prayer/promise in the Bible (Rev. 22:20) but also because I want out of here!

Many of us know the last part of Philippians 4:6–7: “. . . let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” But would I pray that prayer if I met the qualifications listed in the first part of verse 6? Those qualifications are “Be anxious for nothing but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving . . .”? If I were not anxious and always thankful for everything, what prayer requests would I have?

In the garden, prior to the cross, Christ prayed: “. . . take this cup of suffering away from me. However your will must be done not mine.” (Luke 22:42 GWN) In the rest of the prayer, found in John 17, He prayed, not for more peace or strength to face His suffering, but for things that God had already promised would come about! He knew God’s will and that is what He prayed for!

Do I just want to get rid of the cup He has given me and get out of here, or do I, like Christ, accept His cup and pray, in accurate and specific detail, for His promises to be completed?

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Good Things

On July 18, 2016   /   Blessing, Prayer  

Things Above Thought
TAT # 88 ASK FOR GOOD THINGS

Oswald Chamber’s July 16 devotional was great as usual. He wrote on Matthew 7:11; “How much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask Him?” I would like to take it one step further and ask: What are “good things”?

When was the last time you asked: “Please don’t bless me with earthly blessings but with eternal blessings.” Which of the two is more important? Which blessing is better?

Ask for Good Things—Godly Things.

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Prayer

On April 25, 2016   /   Christian Basics, Endurance, Goals, Heavenly Witness, Prayer  

How to pray? Make sure you know for what you are praying.

For what should we pray? For health? For safe travel? For a successful operation? For a good business decision?   For a new             whatever                  ? To handle money wisely? A good retirement? To be happy? To be safe? To have a nice house? To have a safe and happy family? That everybody else be godly so it will be “good” for me?

The purpose of this enlightenment is that through God’s spiritual family the multifaceted wisdom of God should now be disclosed to the rulers and the authorities in the heavenly realms. (Eph. 3:10 NET, clarification added)

And others experienced mocking and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment.  They were stoned, sawed apart, murdered with the sword; they went about in sheepskins and goatskins; they were destitute, afflicted, ill-treated  (the world was not worthy of them); they wandered in deserts and mountains and caves and openings in the earth.  And these all were commended for their faith, yet they did not receive what was promised.  For God had provided something better for us, so that they would be made perfect together with us.
Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, we must get rid of every weight and the sin that clings so closely, and run with endurance the race set out for us, (Heb. 11:36–12:1 NET)

Or should what we pray for be the strength to be obedient so that God’s wisdom and glory will be revealed no matter how it affects us?

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