Pray!

 “Is any among you afflicted? let him pray……” James 5:13

Believers are well acquainted with affliction and suffering. Becoming a Christian does not prevent us from being exposed to the same difficulties and trials which overall plague the human race. It is not in the avoidance or evasion of distress but in the manner of coping and dealing with it, that the saint of God has an edge and real means of surviving the anguish, sorrow and grief that life can bring. One of the weapons of an overcoming Christian life is prayer.

Prayer is the correct positioning of all flesh before God. It ought to be the most natural and obvious choice at all times and in all seasons of life, but particularly so when we are faced with difficulty. The Word of God directs those who believe, to pray when they are faced with the afflictions of life. This is not to say that we should pray only in the tough times of life, but that they are the times when our response should definitely be prayer! The reasons for this are many.

Prayer is the conduit that brings to us mere mortals, the power and blessing of the eternal and almighty God. It is the channel of communication with He Who is greater than us and can do all the things that are outside our control and ability. Afflictions, sufferings and infirmities remind us of how vulnerable and weak we really are. They help us remeasure and redefine in practical terms, our ever present need for God! They are also opportunities for us to build a stronger relationship with the Lord by leaning more heavily on Him and trusting Him beyond where we may have trusted before.

The more frequently we respond to life’s challenges with prayer, the more adept we become to pray, knowing consciously and from our life’s history how that prayer has aided us in connecting with the Lord and in receiving what we have needed in various trying or desperate circumstances. Taking the time to pray teaches us that prayer works and that, as James tells us in v16 of this same chapter, if it is the fervent and effectual prayer of a righteous person - it avails, benefits, profits and rewards a great deal! The testimony of millions, who have verified that there is power in prayer and amazing, unequalled benefits in all circumstances and conditions of life, is overwhelming as it is inspiring.

With this knowledge and evidence both from God’s Word and from the lives of those who in obedience have practiced the principles of prayer to secure its helps and rewards, we must ask ourselves why we don’t pray more!? In fact it would be very pertinent to analyse our heart and life dealings, to see whether prayer is the course of action we choose to take at all. Is it our first option in finding solutions to the woes of life? Do we resort to this Royal telephone line for input from God, ahead of relying on ourselves or seeking the opinion and assistance of others? If we do pray, do we so in faith and trust that God is able and available to answer us?

The prayer experience is sometimes reduced to just saying or repeating prayers in rote fashion, merely fulfilling a duty or ritual, but this is not true praying as the bible describes. The imperative of prayer in scripture, is evidence of God’s command that we perform this holy exercise and that we do so from the heart and soul not simply the lips. How deeply rewarding and satisfying it is to man, when in faith real prayer is made to the Almighty God! How great a deliverance we find and receive from the troubles and afflictions of life, at the hand of the loving Saviour! Jesus is looking for opportunities to provide rest, relief and blessing in all our difficulties of life, if only we would choose to make sincere prayer our first response and not our last resort!



See also:
http://dailybiblefocus.blogspot.com.au/
http://www.pentecostalfamilychurch.com.au/devotion

Stormy Weather

"The LORD is good, a strong hold in the day of trouble; and he knoweth them that trust in him." Nahum 1:7

The strong wind was bending the trees like a giant merciless hand. Through the window, I could see the yard grounds bloated with the rains that had been soaking into it, almost non-stop for days. The image before me was dim, cold and uninviting. I was glad to be indoors, sheltered in the relative comfort of the dry, warm and familiar surrounds of my home. Somewhere on the news were reports of storms hitting elsewhere, leaving some homes with damaged roofs while flash floods were impairing travel and generally making life difficult. Stormy weather!   

We all face the stormy weather of life. There are times when the gusty winds of life’s difficulties push us to the limit and the torrential rains of sorrow soak our heart and soul. Life’s storms do not exonerate anyone. They have no regard to age, and they do not select on any criteria whether it be education, culture, status or descent. We console one another with this general and vague knowledge that after all ‘everyone faces difficulties’ and that ‘life is meant to try us’. Some well-meaning comforter reminds us that ‘there is always someone worse off than we’, but somehow that doesn't really help us in our present struggle. Our best preparation, bravest courage and noblest mental attitude do little to shelter us from the blows and unforeseen challenges and trials that like those un-tethered winds, can buffet us, plague us and push us around.

Some of the troubled days we face, are of our own making, the result of poor judgement, disobedience or plain stupidity when we knowingly select to do or participate in those things that we know will expose us to distress and potentially harm us! Other times of trouble just seem to land at our door step, unsolicited by our choices and like a vexing blowfly, fly into our space clearly unwanted. These seasons of difficulty are very real and threatening as they absorb our time, mind, emotional strength and physical energy. They make us feel like we are walking up a downward escalator, for each step we take we seem to go backwards two. The unrelenting currents of trial push at us and would flush us downstream, requiring that we strain every mental and emotional sinew in our being, in an effort to stay on top.

Drained, floundering, and often feeling alone and wasted in our stressful experiences of life’s storms, we sometimes wonder how we can make it through and if there can ever be hope for a brighter, better tomorrow. We long to hide from the troubles that face us and long for shelter, reprieve and an end or at least a pause, in the struggle against the unseen forces that taunt us. Who truly understands? Where is refuge? Does anyone care?

To those who trust in the Lord it soon becomes clear that God is our only refuge. He is the strong place and high tower that can protect us in, and lift us above our troubles. He is the One who cares and can help us withstand the onslaught of life's turmoil. God is still God in times of crisis, and in the demanding, confusing times.  Knowing, loving and trusting Jesus is our strength and security at all times but particularly in the tough and challenging seasons of life. 

What's more the Lord knows those that trust Him this way and in such difficult situations! That speaks of a care and personal attention that is given by our loving God to those who in the midst of life's storms, when the billows of the oceans of trial toss and threaten, look to Him for strength, comfort and overcoming. Instead of relying on their own limited strength or the temporal camouflage of things or substances in futile attempts to survive, those trusting God know they can lean on Him, that He knows them and cares and that He is the answer! 



See also:
http://dailybiblefocus.blogspot.com.au/
http://www.pentecostalfamilychurch.com.au/devotion