August 26, 2010 – 3:20 pm
Jesus – John 11:41-42 – ‘Then they took away the stone from the place where the dead man was lying. And Jesus lifted up His eyes and said, “Father, I thank You that You have heard Me. And I know that You always hear Me, but because of the people who are standing by I said this, that they may believe that You sent Me.” Now when He had said these things, He cried with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come forth!”’
What an incredible prayer, and what an incredible story this is. I don’t think words can ever get close to describing what it must have been like to actually be there. Mary and Martha’s brother who they had loved had grown so sick that he had died – the sickness iteself would have been traumatic enough, but now they were probably experiencing some of the deepest pain they had ever been through. Read More »
August 26, 2010 – 12:14 pm
Jesus – Matthew 11:25-27 – ‘At that time Jesus answered and said, “I thank You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and prudent and have revealed them to babes. Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in Your sight. All things have been delivered to Me by My Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father. Nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and the one to whom the Son wills to reveal Him.”‘
This prayer is not so much a prayer that we can look to imitate (or not) as so many of the the prayer in the Bible are, but instead it gives us something of a glimpse of what was happenning when Jesus was in this world, and what is still happening now. It’s just an incredible thing that Jesus describes here and ought to bring such humility when we really grasp what He is saying. Read More »
August 25, 2010 – 5:41 pm
Jesus – Matthew 6:9-13 – ‘Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. and do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.’
We come onto probably one of, if not the most famous prayers ever spoken – we know from Luke’s gospel that Jesus disciples come to their master knowing that they are falling short in this area of prayer, and they ask Him to ‘teach’ them. If you want to know how to pray, here is the greatest possible teacher giving us some simple yet profound pointers as to how we ought to approach God in prayer. Read More »
August 24, 2010 – 8:51 pm
Jeremiah – Jeremiah 14:7 - ‘O LORD, though our iniquities testify against us, do it for Your name’s sake; for our backslidings are many, we have sinned against You.’
You could be forgiven for thinking that this prayer of Jeremiah is like so many in the Bible. The people of Israel have wandered away from God and turned to idols. They have dragged His name through the mud by all that they have done, and Jeremiah sees it all. He knows their sin is great, and he turns to God in repentance, crying out to Him to forgive them and heal their backsliding. You could be forgiven for thinking that the coming verses would be a story of God’s grace in restoring His people back to Himself and away from their idolatry, but that isn’t what happens. Read More »
August 21, 2010 – 1:13 pm
Jeremiah – Jeremiah 42:2 - “Please, let our petition be acceptable to you, and pray for us to the LORD your God, for all this remnant (since we are left but a few of many, as you can see), that the LORD your God may show us the way in which we should walk and the thing we should do.”
There is an incredibly important, and in some ways scary lesson for us to learn from this prayer, and the lesson is this:
When we pray, we must be willing to accept and obey the answer God gives us. Read More »
Jesus – John 11:41-42 – ‘Then they took away the stone from the place where the dead man was lying. And Jesus lifted up His eyes and said, “Father, I thank You that You have heard Me. And I know that You always hear Me, but because of the people who are standing by I said this, that they may believe that You sent Me.” Now when He had said these things, He cried with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come forth!”’