Archives For prayer

Praying before the throne of grace

April 8, 2013 — 1 Comment

488

Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. (Hebrews 4:16 ESV)

‘Seeking God’, sounds so spiritual and pious – far removed from what my life actually looks like in the real world. I want to seek God much more than I do; to live by the Spirit, walk in obedience to His direction, seek justice, love mercy and walk humbly before God.

Unfortunately I have become anxious about worldly things and my divided interests have lead me away from a strong devotion to God.1 For this I feel ashamed and am reluctant to face up to Jesus in prayer when I have been such a lousy disciple. So as an avoidance tactic which at least had an appearance of being spiritual, I picked up a book about prayer2 by John Bunyan (author of Pilgrim’s Progress).

Writing while incarcerated in the Bedford goal from 1662, Bunyan addresses this very issue:

Another encouragement for a poor trembling convicted soul is to consider the place, throne, or seat, on which the great God has placed Himself to hear the petitions and prayers of poor creatures; and that is a ‘throne of grace’, ‘the mercy-seat. (Hebrews 4:16 & Exodus 25:22) …

… Poor souls! They are very apt to entertain strange thoughts of God, and of His carriage towards them: and suddenly conclude that God will have no regard unto them, when yet He is upon the mercy-seat, and has taken His place on purpose there, to the end He may hear and regard the prayers of poor creatures.2

​This is an encouraging reminder of grace. That when it comes to praying to and communing with God, He takes pains to place Himself on a throne of grace so that our prayers may come to him unhindered by the burden of sin we may carry. As I approach God in and through Christ my own very poor track record is gloriously overlaid with the perfect record of Jesus such that I am accepted as God’s own child.

So my attempt to avoid facing my shortcomings as a follower of Christ by reading something written by a great follower of Christ was perhaps not quite so deluded after all!

Now to place myself before that throne of grace.

This is day 27 of my project, and not going so well!​

Other posts related to this topic:

Image: iStock

1. See 1 Corinthians 7:33-34.↩
2. Prayer by John Bunyan (Puritan Paperbacks, ISBN 0-85151-090-6) p55.↩

In Learning to pray, Seeking God ,
permalink

Fidgety prayers

March 19, 2013

Bible_prayerThere was a time when I used to get up early each morning to spend time seeking God at the beginning of my day. That habit gradually faded as wife, children, work and the internet filled up my life.

These days it is generally easier for me to get time alone late in the evenings rather than in the mornings. Yet making constructive use of this time to seek God takes discipline to turn off the computer or TV, to put down my book and pick up the Bible. Just as it takes resolve and discipline to get out of bed early on a cold morning. My problem is not primarily one of having no time but lies in how I am choosing to use what time I’ve got.

I recall my bachelor days when I would get up and enjoy a cup of tea while reading the Bible and praying before getting ready for work. So in order to reactivate some dormant memory cells, last night I made a cup of tea and sat down to read and pray. My mind wandered, I fidgeted and walked around the room. But I was seeking God. (Though tea late at night predictably caused me to have to get up during the night to pee!).

​Something which has encouraged me in my messy, inadequate pursuit of God is a quote I recently read from Henri Nouwen:

“WHY should I spend an hour in prayer when I do nothing during that time but think about people I am angry with, people who are angry with me, books I should read and books I should write, and thousands of other silly things that happen to grab my mind for a moment?

The answer is: because God is greater than my mind and my heart, and what is really happening in the house of prayer is not measurable in terms of human success and failure.

What I must do first of all is be faithful. If I believe that the first commandment is to love God with my whole heart, mind, and soul, then I should at least be able to spend one hour a day with nobody else but God. The question as to whether it is helpful, useful, practical, or fruitful is completely irrelevant, since the only reason to love is love itself. Everything else is secondary.

The remarkable thing, however, is that sitting in the presence of God for one hour each morning — day after day, week after week, month after month — in total confusion and with myriad distractions radically changes my life. God, who loves me so much that He sent His only son not to condemn me but to save me, does not leave me waiting in the dark too long.

I might think that each hour is useless, but after thirty or sixty or ninety such useless hours, I gradually realize that I was not as alone as I thought; a very small gentle voice has been speaking to me far beyond my noisy place.

So: Be confident and trust in the Lord.”

From The Road to Daybreak, by Henri Nouwen. (I read this here)

This is day 4 of my project.​

Other posts related to this topic:

Image: iStock

In Seeking God , , ,
permalink

Seeing Jesus

October 4, 2012

After this Jesus revealed himself again to the disciples by the Sea of Tiberias, and he revealed himself in this way… (John 21:1)

Miu is a elderly Shan grandma who is a widow with no children. She lives alone and with no income. Her daily pilgrimage to the Buddhist temple did not relieve her feelings of loneliness. One night this last year, when she was already asleep and the door was locked, a man in shining white clothes, with white hair came into her room and the room was brightly lit up. When she asked him who he was, he said that he was the Lord Jesus Christ. He sat on her bed and told her that he sees her and loves her. She was amazed that he spoke to her in Shan. He promised that he would come and visit her again.

Lord we ask that Miu’s faith and understanding of Jesus will continue to grow and be strengthened, despite harassment from her village headman.

Lord for those Shan that are being persecuted we pray for:
  • Boldness
  • Encouragement
  • Power of the Holy Spirit
  • No fear of man, only fear of God
  • Protection
Jesus reveal yourself to the Shan through:
  • Dreams
  • Miracles
  • Healings
  • Deliverance from demons
  • Visions

Other posts related to this topic:

Image: Michael Woo

In Shan prayer 2012
permalink

Called to freedom

October 3, 2012

For you were called to freedom, brothers.
(Galatians 5:13 ESV)

Dear Father,

To me the Shan culture is foreign and strange. I could stand here afar off and judge how they do things, even how the Shan churches function.

There are ways in which it seems they lack freedom, but who am I to talk of freedom when I grew up in a land free from war and oppression of my people. Yet I have lived in bondage to sin, as do all people.

Please free the Shan Dai Christians from sin and traditions of men. May they be free in Christ to follow the fervent evangelistic example of the apostle Paul in taking the gospel always further to places where it is unknown.

I pray that in Your mercy and grace You will give peace, joy and great freedom to the Shan Dai Christians.

Amen

1 Peter 2:9- But you are a Chosen Race, A royal Priesthood, A Holy Nation…

A priesthood of believers- There are around 7 million Shan Dai. Less than 0.1 % of them know the Lord.  Among those that do know the Lord, many have formal churches. They have many rules about ordination, and how pastors are the only ones that can baptize and serve communion. Many that want to serve must first go to a 3 year Bible school in another language. There are too few of these ordained pastors to go out among the 7 million unreached Shan nation. The lay people must be trained and sent out.

Receive daily email prayer request by emailing prayfortheshan@gmail.com and type “sign me up”

Other posts related to this topic:

In Shan prayer 2012 ,
permalink

Praying for the Shan and for me

October 1, 2012

Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray.
The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.
James 5:13, 16 ESV

During September I erratically participated in praying for Burma with the Partners folks. I was very impressed by their emails encouraging us to pray and the first one was so good I am going to steal the idea for preparing myself to pray for the Shan people of Burma in October.

The world is full of suffering people. The world is also full of righteous people whose responsibility it is to lift up hands in prayer to God for the sake of those who are lost, alone, hurting, vulnerable and needy.

As we embark on a journey of prayer over the next 30 days, meditate today on what this passage in James means by a “righteous” person.  Get your heart right with God so you will be effective and powerful in your prayers. partnersworld

So, for today my prayer is for God to deal with me so that I can be a useful servant for His glory, particularly in serving the Shan people. When I look into my own heart I do not see righteousness, I need to be clothed in Christ to obtain such a garment. I do have a responsibility to pray for those in need and God has placed within me a conviction to serve the Shan people in this way, something I have neglected over recent months.

Therefore, join with me in confessing your own unrighteousness to God and asking Jesus to purify us from all sin as we seek to serve His people.

Other posts related to this topic:

Image: Veer

In Shan prayer 2012 ,
permalink