Prayer (November 28)
Samuel 1:15-16 - “I have poured out my soul before the Lord. Out of the abundance of my complaint and grief have I spoken hitherto…”
Prayer should come from the abundance of the heart from which come the issues of life.
Matthew 12:34 - “For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh.”
Intercede for God’s people. Remind God of how others look on Him and how unbelievers view the deeds He’s doing for his people. Ask, beg and cry out to God to pardon those believers who sin and deserve judgment. Stand in the gap.
Proverbs 15:86: “The prayer of the upright in his delight.”
When we delight ourselves in the Lord (Psalms 37:4) we pray to Him and give Him delight. It’s a “two-way street.” Hannah asked and petitioned God for a man-child (I Samuel 1:11) and she was told by God’s man, to go in peace for God would grant her desired petition (verse 17).
When we ask God for definite things instead of so many general things, and will not let ourselves be satisfied with any substitute for what we have prayed for, we’ll receive our desire too.
See I Samuel 1:20, 27 and 2 Corinthians 1:20.
What we WANT is promised—anything good and within the bounds of the promises and goodness of God. Psalms 34:10 says when we seek the Lord—not the thing we’re asking for—but God—we shall not want for any good thing. He won’t withhold any good thing from us.
Look at King Hezekiah in Isaiah 38:1-39:8. When he was dying he turned his face to the wall and besought God. He asked God to remember his upright walk and perfect heart and he wept very hard and long. God wasn’t willing that He should perish and he sent the prophet Isaiah to say to the king—“I have heard thy prayer, I have seen thy tears; behold I will heal thee . . . on the third day.” And the Lord caused the king to recover who praised Him thus: “Behold, Thou hast in love to my soul delivered it from the pit of corruption: for thou hast cast all my sins behind Thy back… O Lord, by these things men live, and in all these things is the life of my spirit… the living, the living, he shall praise thee, as I do this day… The Lord was ready to save me… therefore we will sing my songs to the stringed instruments all the days of our life in the house of the Lord.”
II King 20:1-11
In the day of trouble and of rebuke and blasphemy, many lose their lives. However we who are alive and escape death, are a remnant. The Lord our God instructs us to thank Him for sparing our lives, but more so, we are to lift up our prayer for the remnant that are left (II Kings 19:4). Pray earnestly for remnants of natural families, remnants of church families where a split took place, remnants in nations where natural disasters took lives, etc. There’s so much to pray for.
When a leader of a country is threatened by another one, that leader should lay out the threat before God in prayer, beseeching God to save the people. Only God knows their abode, their going out and their coming in and their rage against that leader of that nation and their God. When a leader beseeches God about threats and acts of war. God sets Himself to defend that country to save it for His own sake. See II King 19:20-37
I Kings 8:44-45. “If thy people go out to battle against their enemy, whithersoever thou shalt send them, and shall pray unto the Lord toward the city which thou hast chosen and toward the house that I have built for thy name. Then hear thou in heaven their prayer and their supplication and maintain their cause.”
We can pray for God’s defense of our country in time of war. We must plead with God in prayer. A plea is an earnest request; an appeal. We supplicate when we ask humbly and earnestly in prayer. We beseech God when we beg Him, solicit Him eagerly and seriously go after Him. God loves a serious, zealous prayer. We are to pray fervently and passionately, with desperation and great persistence. Sometimes we’ll do as Nehemiah, the king’s cupbearer (Nehemiah 1:4). We’ll sit down, weep, mourn a few days and fast. Then we’ll come before God in prayer. If your hands have been weakened from work, ask God to strengthen your hands (Nehemiah 6:9). Ask God to remember you for the good, you’ve been blessed to do (Nehemiah 13:22).
St. John 14:13-14. God says we can have what we ask, when we ask in faith, in Jesus’ name. This gives God glory, when we receive what we have asked, because we praise God and others. Bless God and He is glorified in all. One must seek God carefully and not be deterred or dissuaded.
See how the persistent, undaunted friend received what he needed because he desperately asked until he was heard. St. Luke 11:5-8 – “And he said unto them, Which of you shall have a friend, and shall go unto him at midnight, and say unto him, Friend, lend me three loaves; For a friend of mine in his journey is come to me, and I have nothing to set before him? And he from within shall answer and say, Trouble me not: the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot rise and give thee. I say unto you, Though he will not rise and give him, because he is his friend, yet because of his importunity, he will rise and give him as many as he needeth.” Jesus gave this parable of a desperate man and the boldness of God’s friends to his disciples who asked Him to teach them to pray.
We must obey His teaching in St. Luke 11:9-10 – “And I say unto you, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you… For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.”
St. Luke 11:8. The widow continually appeared before an unjust judge with her petition and wore him down by her “continual coming.” (St. Luke 18:5) He realized that she wanted vengeance because of her adversary and she wouldn’t let up until he responded according to her wishes. He was an unjust judge. Our just, loving Lord is One who daily loads us with benefits when we ask for things for the proper reasons – and not to consume them upon our lusts. When we do not give in to doubt, fear, unbelief, or discouragement or use excuses when prayer isn’t answered immediately, we’ll see results. We are drawing nigh to God when we pray. Prayer empowers our soul and spirit to resist all opposition that suggests a failure. We must not faint or get weary.
Prayer:
Lord bless us to defend our abode and our family, while we rebuild that which has been torn asunder. Heal us where we’ve been torn down, and make us whole and entire for Your purpose. We will not let You go Jesus, until You bless us. This day, we come to You desperately, humbling ourselves, seeking Your face and pressing into Your very presence. As we present ourselves before You, we vow to turn from our wicked ways. We look with waiting hearts and outstretched hands as we receive forgiveness for our going astray – each one to his own way. Lord alter the fashion of our countenance and sanctify our dispositions and behaviour. O may the oil of Your anointing never cease to flow into our empty vessels. Bless us to lead quiet and peaceable lives in all godliness and honesty, for this is good and acceptable in Your sight, O Holy Saviour. And now, we praise You and glorify You for this sweet communion in the Holy Ghost…. Amen!
