“My faith is SO puny…” and other nonsensical remarks

January 30, 2013

Maria Faith, Hebrews, Hope, Prayer, Uncategorized, Waiting , , Leave a comment

Which of the two situations described below make you doubt the sufficiency of your faith?

– a BIG need that looms large and feels almost impossible?

0r

-seeing someone else set ALL their hope and trust on God?

**

I read a Ben Franklin quote the other day, “He that lives upon hope will die fasting.”

I think THAT sentiment sums up most folks’ view of hope.

But does Franklin’s hope refer to the Christian hope? -The hope that is an anchor to our soul, firm and secure, i.e. CHRIST?  (Hebrews 6:19)

Not at all.  Ben Franklin is talking about the kind of hope that is wishful thinking, the kind we all employ when we say, “I hope it doesn’t rain for the picnic!”

Christian hope is a different concept – it’s a firm assurance, expectation, and guarantee.  And you know what else; it does NOT find its origin in us!!!!  That actually is a relief.

You ask, “Maria, you mean I don’t have to gin up my slacking, weak faith? “

No!!!! – because it’s not YOUR faith to begin with.  If you are a Christian, then you have had the faith of Christ implanted in you.  So the REAL question is…….

Are you a true, authentic Christian?  Here’s the test:

  • Do you actually believe who Jesus the Christ says He is? – the Son of God who alone is the way to the Father, who alone is sufficient to have his payment for your sins count for you, who alone is sufficient to have his perfectly lived life count for you?
  • And do you desire, in some measure, to rely on Him FOR standing in your stead at the Executioner’s Block, to rely on Him FOR having earned ALL the righteous credit you’ll ever need to please God?

If you can say YES to the above, then that is proof that this alien/foreign/other faith is from outside of you.  The content next to the above 2 bullet points is NOT obvious, not gleanable from nature or from the world.  You had to have HEARD that information and there had to have been a spot created in your heart/mind to accept and receive that info as the most amazingly good news and way to have peace with God and be FREEEEEEEEED of your guilt.

Be assured: if you are Christian, then the faith you have been given is ENOUGH.

*

Mike and I are so thankful and grateful to have this opportunity to trust God for some big things in our own personal lives.

Most of the time our prayers are taken up for all those whom we love,  that is the needs of:

a)   family members

b)   friends

c)    co-workers and neighbors

d)   brothers and sisters in Christ

e)   and then those who are cared for by a/b/c/d

Now Mike and I get to watch, expect and wait for God to work in a big way in our very own personal circumstances.  We are SO excited.  We know our God as the One who does ABUNDANTLY more than we can ask or imagine.  He is the epitome of creativity.

God has already answered 1 of our big 5 – we found a house to buy on our one house-hunting trip to Waynesville, NC.

Now we are watching/expecting/waiting to see how He

  • Sells our current house in the time period set by the seller of the NC house
  • Provides me with a job at the income we have determined is sufficient
  • Brings paying clients to Mike as a business consultant
  • Leads us to our new church family

We feel blessed to have been given this opportunity to enjoy front-row seats and see what He will do.  And then many of you will rejoice with us and find new strength and desire to exercise the gift of faith and prayer given to you.

Pray on and watch for great things! 

The gift of patience, an acquired skill

January 23, 2013

Maria 1 Timothy, Faith, Hebrews, Patience, Peace, Prayer, Uncategorized , , , 1 Comment

 

And so after waiting patiently, Abraham received what God had promised – Hebrews 6:15

Waiting, patiently or ‘Macrothymeo’ that is ‘longtime – passion’ according to Strongs 3116 – keeping one’s desire in check for a long time.

How do you think God gets us to practice this skill and get better at it?  Right!  He sends us lots of situations perfectly suited to chip away at our defects.  The Bible declares Jesus to be the author and finisher of our faith (Hebrews 12:2). That means that true faith is a gift from Him and that He is also the one charged with perfecting what He implants in us.

Our brother and sister-in-law were married 15 months ago and expected a 6 month wait before Eve would receive the correct immigration status and permission as a Canadian to live in the States with her husband Steve.  They are still waiting.  We have watched their patience with admiration and awe.  Surely God is doing great things in this couple and individually, crafting a stronger reliance on Him.

Some friends of ours waited agonizingly month after month for an adoption to go through.  Their faith grew one week at a time, as they learned, as we all must, that they are not in control.  They were rewarded with both an adoptable newborn AND a pregnancy.  We just learned yesterday that their patience and trust in God has borne yet more fruit as a hoped for Army situation has been granted after a 3rd drawn-out request.

Our dear Anne waits for her husband Wes to return safe and sound from Afghanistan. We pray for endurance and grace for both of them.  Each day is a battle between fear and faith – and not just when our hearts desire big things but in all circumstances.  Waiting is part of the human condition.  Our spiritual ancestors Abraham and Sarah waited on God for His promise to be visible.

And we, too, are waiting for hoped for circumstances to become visible.

Mike and I are waiting/expecting/ hoping/ keeping watch (all the same Hebrew word – qavah 6960) for a house to sell, for a school to hire me and for clients to contract with him.  We are VERY aware that we are not in control.  As God has taught me this year, I make a miserable and short-sighted ‘controller’.  You remember reading  God’s words as He speaks through Timothy,

Jesus is the happy/blessed/ blissful sovereign or controller of all of life, King of Kings, Lord of Lords (1 Tim 6:15)

My husband thinks that I have a strong faith, but I don’t FEEL like I do.  As we have been TRYING to practice obedience by ‘patiently waiting and restfully trusting’ in God’s promises, my mind has from time to time fallen prey to fretful glances at the present suffering of fellow Christians.  I have found myself asking questions like:

  • What makes ME think God will give us what we desire?
  • What if NOT getting what we desire is ‘better’ for us?
  • People I know have lost babies, jobs, health…..why should it be different for us?

The irony of this journey in faith is that we have chosen it.  We COULD have stayed put, in our current jobs and home.

But the lure of adventure, of mountains, of new beginnings beckons.  So we must not murmur against the uncertainty and the wait.

Who knows, maybe that desire for adventure has been planted in us BY God Himself, so that we WOULD seek out the road less travelled?!

What I DO know is that your prayers REALLY help.  I felt an actual shift in my mental state in the dark hours of last Saturday night.  We were in Waynesville, NC (western part of the state) for the weekend.  We had looked at 5 houses that afternoon and picked ‘the one’.  During the night, my mind drifted time and time again to ALL the many contingencies and arrangements that would have to line up for us to ‘get’ that house.  I had felt strong desire rising in me all evening as Mike and I talked about it. I went to bed with one pulsating thought –  “I WANT THAT HOUSE!”

But when I woke up around 3 am to go to the bathroom, I noticed that I was at peace.  I had let go.  My initial thought was, “I will be happy in whichever house God arranges for us.  Therefore, I don’t have to CLING to this particular house.  I can trust Him.  He actually sees the future.  I don’t”

That lessening of my tightly closed toddler fists was the result of your prayers.  I recognized the shift toward peace right away.  Because as soon as those comforting thoughts seeped into my mind, I knew they could ONLY be the result of something spiritual.

So we wait.  And trust Him.  And rely on your prayers for our patience and for the details to work out according to what He has planned.  We will let you know as soon as:

-our current house sells

-the purchase of our NC house goes through (whichever house that ends up being!)

-I am offered a job

-Mike gets his first paying client!

June 1st is when we leave the Shire, headed south and west, God-willing.  And as the weeks fly by, we recall a very great fact about God.  Here is the verse that Mike and I have designated as OUR verse for 2013:

Psalm 126:3 – The Lord has done great things for us: we are glad.

House with M & M in front

 

 

 

Thoughts on Prayer

January 8, 2013

Maria Luke, Prayer Leave a comment

Do we believe without a doubt? When we pray, do we believe that we will receive the things we ask for, not on a future day, but then and there? This is the teaching of this inspiring scripture. How we need to pray, “Lord, Increase our faith” (Luke 17:5) until doubt is gone, and absolute trust claims the promised blessings as its very own.

E M Bounds

I have never met a Christian who boasted in their prayer life.  To the man, everyone confesses weakness, fear and self-recrimination.  Universally, we seen pleasantly surprised when God does indeed answer prayer.  Why is prayer so hard?

Here are some thoughts that encourage my heart:

  • God wants us to pray.  Always.  In every situation. At all times.
  • God expects us to pray as little kids.  We don’t have to earn a PhD first.  In fact, there’s no such thing as a bad prayer.

How can I say this?  Surely we’ve prayed selfishly and wrongly….

Well, here are some examples of God answering ‘BAD’ prayers.

In Numbers 11, the recently-rescued Hebrews pine for food from their Egyptian captive days –

– vs 18 to 20 – “Tell the people: ‘Consecrate yourselves in preparation for tomorrow, when you will eat meat. The Lord heard you when you wailed, “If only we had meat to eat! We were better off in Egypt!” Now the Lord will give you meat, and you will eat it. 19 You will not eat it for just one day, or two days, or five, ten or twenty days, 20 but for a whole month—until it comes out of your nostrils and you loathe it—because you have rejected the Lord, who is among you, and have wailed before him, saying, “Why did we ever leave Egypt?

And even Job in the midst of complaining to God about how unfairly he has been treated longs for his accusations to be made into a permanent written record,

Chapter 19: 23-24 – Oh, that my words were recorded, that they were written on a scroll, that they were inscribed with an iron tool on lead, or engraved in rock forever!

How ironic is that!

At the bottom of our reluctance to pray, I think, is our fear of being disappointed.  If we pray and get our hopes up and God DOESN’T answer the way we have asked, then we will be even worse off.  We are afraid of being hurt even more.

And not without good reason! For we can all point to people who have NOT been rescued, healed, blessed.  My ‘go-to-example’ of that in scripture is Paul and his ‘thorn’.  And in this New Year, 2013, I think of Joni Eareckson Tada who is STILL paralyzed and in daily pain, 45 years after her diving accident.  Faithful people who have not received what they asked God for. What do we make of that?  Even Francis Chan shared in a talk that he prayed for his Buddhist grandmother to receive Christ before she died.  And to his knowledge she died, darkened and without hope.

I don’t know.  But what I DO know is that God DOES answer some of my prayers RIGHT AWAY.  And some prayers He answers after years of praying.  And some prayers He has not (yet) answered the way I have hoped. I can also point to those prayer requests He firmly turned down.

Here is where I have to bow, submit to and REST on some comforting truths:

  • God IS the definition of goodness
  • God LOVES me and has already done the very best for me by adopting me as his child and making me an heir to His Kingdom Riches F-O-R-E-V-E-R.   And THAT even before I knew what I was getting into!
  • God has chosen to WORK HIS WILL partially by the raw material of our prayers.  He invites, expects and even commands our participation.
  • I am growing as I learn about this Kingdom business of prayer, of talking to God.
  • I can’t get prayer wrong.
  • I don’t have to be good FIRST before praying.
  • I don’t have to have the right amount of faith first before God hears me.  He ALWAYS hears me.
  • I feel better when I pray.
  • I can always pray when I don’t know what else to do.
  • No prayer goes unheard.
  • God SPOKE the world into existence.
  • My words have more supernatural power than I know.
  • The spirit world hears my prayers and WITNESSES the impure faith that I do have and marvels at God’s response.
  • It’s not my faith anyway.  Any faith that I have has been given to me by God.
  • Answers to prayers are NOT dependent on me.  I do not need to fear that my faith will be inadequate or insufficient.
  • And finally, as EM Bounds encourages, I can and SHOULD ask for MORE faith.

What can YOU do to help ME grow in the confident practice of prayer?  Share what your prayers are and when and how God answers them. This kind of practicing gratitude also increases our awareness of God’s answers.

And remember, that God WANTS to answer our prayers..that is His default mode.  And every prayer that is answered brings glory and honor and praise to Him.  Take THAT, evil forces of darkness!

Acronyms and a Family Reunion – How I’m Praying

September 16, 2012

Maria Colossians, Prayer , 2 Comments

I must be handicapped to some degree mentally.  For I have greatly benefitted from memory techniques to help me cope.  My favorite way of making up for poor memory, is to organize what is important to me in the form of an acronym or a silly rhyme.  Mike has a colleague and a boss who have nicknames inherited from their active-duty air force days.  One is named Box and the other Stick.  The only way I can remember who is who is to say to myself: “Stick is Mike’s boss, because STick STays at work late.”  The “st- trick” helps me when I need quickly to verbalize the correct name.

I’m just sharing a deficiencyL and one of my crutchesJ.

So in the effort to organize some wonderful attributes of God into a prayer for an upcoming family reunion, I used the first 2 initials of our two sons, my husband and myself.

Wes who is an Infantry lieutenant deploys to Afghanistan in about 6 weeks or so.  We have organized a family reunion for the 1st week of October.  We have a small family, but EVERYONE is coming.  The last time we were together was a year ago when Mike’s brother Steve married Eve in Toronto.  And now we are reuniting.  Life is fragile – who knows when we will all be together again.  So I’ve been praying.  First I prayed that Wes indeed would be granted the vacation days he had been ‘promised’ by the Army.  Then I prayed that Mike’s mom and his cousin Terry would be able to come. These prayers have been granted by our always-faithful heavenly Father.  Now I’m praying for a hurricane-free week, good health and safe travel.

But more importantly, I am praying for harmony. You know what YOUR family is like!  Old patterns that weren’t healthy ‘way back when’ resurface when family members are together for more than 24 hours.  These can include juvenile rivalries, un-forgiveness and assumptions that have fossilized even though they are no longer true.

There are also political and spiritual differences among family members.  Enough said.

Then there are expectations about how people should act.   My husband tells me that unmet expectations are the source of much grief.

And did I mention that in this beach house will be 6 women who all like to cook, but who view meal prep and clean-up differently? Some likely will be battling hormones of various kinds, cranky because of poor sleep in a new bed and/or tired because of babies and toddlers!

Don’t get me wrong!  We’re not an exceptionally dysfunctional family.  I don’t think anyone is in counseling at this momentJ.  We’re pretty normal!!!  But we are all sinners.

So here is how I’ve been praying and where my acronym comes into play.  I took the initials of the first and middle names of my nuclear family: our oldest son GC, my husband MF, our youngest son WJ and me MB and created a prayer for our entire Cochrane family, all of whom will be at this happy event :

Blessed are you, O God

May we, the Cochranes

          Delight in

          Enjoy ‘muchly’

          Treasure and

          Rejoice in who You are    (DETR – I pronounce it as ‘debtor’)

Grant us ever-exceeding (here come the initials of our names)

          Gratitude to You

          Compassion for others

          Mercy in our actions

          Faithfulness in our reliance on You

          Wisdom

          Joy

          Mindfulness and

          Beauty-seeking

I now have a better chance of remembering HOW I want to pray leading up to our reunion and during.  Of course PEACE, FORGIVENESS, UNSELFISHNESS and many other attitudes are ones for which I’m THANKING GOD ahead of time as well.

Don’t misunderstand – I’m not anticipating upheavals.  But I do believe that God wants us to be prepared and on our guard.  Satan and his cohorts are always aggressively on the prowl, looking to devour Christians.  We must be mindful and clad in our spiritual armor that God has provided.  To do otherwise is at best naïve and at worst a disaster waiting to happen.

Colossians 3 – 12 Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. 13 Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. 14 And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.

More thoughts on prayer

September 14, 2011

Maria James, Luke, Prayer , Leave a comment

“You have not because you ask not”  – James 4:2b

– for Jesus said – “So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.” Luke 11: 9-10

The life of prayer is the greatest adventure in this world because God is the director.  Each trial brings more practice, new insights and a deeper understanding of what it means to

-acknowledge a need and my inability to meet it

-ask God specifically for what I think is needed

-trust Him that He will answer the need in His time and for the good of many people (some of whom I do not know)

-practice waiting as a form of worship

Wes and I had an experience when he was a senior in high school.  He and his friend had applied and visited West Point together.  Both passed all the requirements and were accepted, but Sam had a hiccup – he suffered from asthma and would need a medical exception in order to enroll as a candidate.  I was sure that if we prayed in faith and didn’t waiver that all would be well.  We prayed our hearts out for Sam.  As we approached the day of departure, I believed God would come through at the last moment.  And He did, but His answer was not what I had prayed for!

Sam instead enrolled at another college and enjoyed his four years.  I was really shocked that God did not change circumstances as a result of our praying.  Reflecting back, however, I gained new insight into prayer.  We cannot manipulate God.  I am learning that when I pray, trusting God means to hold loosely what I ask for and desire. It’s rather a waiting that He will sovereignly bring about what is best.

And since I cannot see the big picture, I have to let go of my plans.

I’m now facing a situation that is out of my control.  It has to do with travel plans for a family wedding, the Army and this son Wes who is now a lieutenant. The best laid plans of civilian moms can be interrupted by Uncle Sam.  Today as I pray, I wait peacefully.   I don’t feel as desperate for my way to be done.  I won’t manipulate God.  I will wait on Him. And if we have to move to Plan B, I will trust His guidance with those decisions.

When God says ‘No!’

May 2, 2011

Maria Hope, Luke, Prayer , , Leave a comment

God just closed a door.  The job at Scott AFB (near St Louis) to which Mike had applied posted a change in status on Friday – the job itself has been withdrawn.  (Perhaps funding to fill it was pulled??)  Mike’s West Point classmate was in charge and had actually asked Mike to apply.  Mike had made the first cut and was told that he was in the top 5-6 being considered for interviews.  The activity at Scott was his old agency that had moved from Newport News to Illinois four years ago. Not only was he very familiar with the work and the people, but he was qualified for the job.  We had not moved with his former agency when it was ‘BRAC’ed because at the time, my dying father was still living in Williamsburg.  It was at that point that Mike was hired to work at JFCOM, all so we could stay in the area for my Dad.

Since applying for this other position 9 weeks ago, we had been patiently living in limbo.  At least now, we know that we aren’t moving.  This job was his last iron in the fire. Other jobs he had applied for (Ft Monroe, Charlottesville, and Huntsville) have all come back as NOs.

Mike and I are trusting that God will give him energy to continue on in the dysfunctional remnant of JFCOM for the next two years until he can retire from the government and seek something else.  The expectation for the same amount of work and projects continues but the command has been stripped of contractors.  So whereas Mike was division chief with people who supported him, now he is on his own, but expected to do the same work.

We will continue to look to Him who richly provides.  Circumstances have no power over us, only God.  I had asked God to help me encourage and support Mike if and when the door shut.  And God is faithfully meeting that need.

At least it looks like I will still be at Summit Christian Academy, teaching French 1-4 and Logic to 8th graders next year.  There are other good reasons to stay. Our church is a blessing.  I have signed up to be trained this summer to teach ESL, a new ministry at Calvary.  Mike continues to teach Sunday School.  And we have many friends here – it would have been hard to leave.

I am praying that God would provide hope to Mike.  He does have hope for life eternal with Jesus, but would like something tangible and earthly to enjoy, to look forward to.  Work does not provide this kind of satisfaction.  Yes, I know, men are meant to toil. And because of the Fall, work is more frustrating since Adam.  But I would really love for him to know that he makes a difference each day and receive that kind of satisfaction.  Nothing is too small to ask God about.  Jesus explicitly taught us to pray expectantly, boldly, with intensity and fervor as a little child bugging her daddy.  Think about the widow who kept at the unjust judge or the man who woke up his neighbor to outrageously ask for food in the middle of the night.

So please join with me in praying for a man who wants to make a difference in his work.  I admire him.  He has integrity.  He is a man who daily seeks to provide value to his bosses and peers and subordinates.

Let’s see what God will do, with us living expectantly, our eyes on Him.  Just a few minutes ago as we were processing this news, he shared one of the ‘take-aways’ he has gotten from BSF and the study of Isaiah – that God is a god who acts.

May the God who does creatively more than we can ask or envision receive much glory in this situation.  And may we learn and display the truth that Jesus is SO gratifying, that despite a trying job, Jesus is enough.  Oh Lord, help us to be the kind of sons and daughters who make you proud.

A theology of Nos

March 1, 2011

Maria Hebrews, James, Prayer Leave a comment

The fervent prayers of a righteous woman make a lot of power available (James 5:16 – my version of the amplified)

Do all your prayers to God get answered?  How many Yeses have you had?  How many NOs?  How do you measure and track the results?  Recently a significant NO made me stop and think about my tally.

-God has given me many Yeses, many I have taken for granted

-The NOs actually teach me more because they cause me to pause, think and pray all the more.  The NOs teach me about God and about myself.  I want to talk about 3 NOs and 2 Yeses.

Ten days ago God closed a door.  I had been praying boldly in faith that not only would Mike secure an interview, but he would be chosen for a certain local civil service job.  The first cut was not a problem, but 3 weeks later he saw that he was a ‘non-select’.  Not being called for the interview hurt!  By our reckoning, he was imminently qualified.

This NO got me thinking about other NOs.  In the past 23 years, I can only recall 2 significant ones.  I’m sure there have been others, but they have faded from my memory.   More significant are the multitude of Yeses – hundreds of them: yeses to big prayers, to little prayers, to quick prayers and to long-term prayers. In fact just yesterday, a major YES came through, that is: safety and success for Wes in his Ranger course.

So what have I learned from the NOs? :  That I’m not in charge, that God truly does know best, that He has my best interests at heart, and that God has his reasons whether we know them or not.  Not bad lessons.

Our first NO was a response to another prayer about a job.  We wanted to stay in Germany where we were living in1983.  Doors shut and the fish weren’t biting, so we moved back to the States near where my parents were living.  My mom dropped dead, without a warning, 1 ½ years later.  In hindsight I saw the blessing to me and to our boys of that time with my mom.  Had we stayed in Europe (my heart’s desire) we would have been the poorer.

The other NO came as an answer to a fervent daily prayer that Wes and I offered on behalf of his friend who had applied to West Point as well.  Asthma blocked this boy’s admission and no waiver was forthcoming.   Frankly, I was shocked that God didn’t grant the waiver.  I truly thought that if we prayed in faith we could……what? …manipulate God?  I guess so!  That was a reality check.  God doesn’t always do what I think is best.

On the other hand, here are two Yeses that have been cooking for a long time.  I don’t think I really believed that God would answer them, (prayers wrapped in agnosticism).

Since I was 16 (I am now 53) I have struggled with eating issues. First there was bulimia…that God miraculously removed from my repertoire of destructive actions.  But since that deliverance at age 25, I have still struggled, prayed and cried about my body, obsessing over all things food and body.  Now, however, in the past 3 months, God has given me a way to eat and to maintain my weight without obsessing.  I am amazed.  He really DOES answer long-term prayers.

The other long-term prayer has to do with professional skill.  I switched to a completely different method of teaching French 8 ½ years ago.  It has been VERY difficult, because it is a skill that requires thinking on one’s feet and depending on the energy of the students, similar to an ‘Improv’ artist and his audience.  My husband has prayed along side of me, encouraging me with lots of love as he did when I was bulimic.  And again, in the past 3 months, I have popped out above the clouds and the skills have jelled. My confidence and delight in teaching this way have rapidly grown.  An unexpected answer to prayer, it alighted on my shoulder almost unnoticed at first.

In conclusion, here is what I have learned from the NOs and the Yeses.  I am ‘owning’ the command to “pray always”, being watchful and thankful.  As I pray, I totally FEEL that I can trust God to answer the prayers as He sees fit.  He knows all the circumstances and is immensely creative and patient. And I do not grow in prayer only through my own experiences, as if in a vacuum.  Answers to my own prayers are not alone in spurring me on.  Each time another brother and sister in Christ bids me pray for a need and then shares their rocky journey toward the answer (whether a No or a Yes) I am encouraged. For I am reminded that God IS listening and He DOES care.   That is the blessing gained from belonging to the body of Christ and being transparent and unashamed.

“Let us continue to spur one another to love and good deeds (PRAYER), not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another and all the more as you see the day approaching” Heb 10: 24-25

 

“Far as the curse is heard” – applying Oswald Chambers

December 13, 2010

Maria Peace, Prayer , , Leave a comment

First – here is Oswald Chambers’ post for 13 December – I’ve cut just a few sentences to make it shorter.

“Men ought always to pray, and not to faint” Luke 18:1

You cannot intercede if you do not believe in the reality of the Redemption;  (otherwise – my word) you will turn intercession into futile sympathy with human beings…… In intercession you bring the person, or the circumstance that impinges on you before God until you are moved by His attitude towards that person or circumstance. ……..

Our work lies in coming into definite contact with God about everything, and we shirk it by becoming active workers. We do the things that can be tabulated but we will not intercede. ……

The thing to watch in intercession is that no soul is patched up, a soul must get through into contact with the life of God. Think of the number of souls God has brought about our path and we have dropped them! When we pray on the ground of Redemption, God creates something He can create in no other way than through intercessory prayer.

My application –

Reading this exhortation to pray on the basis of the redemption made me realize how SHALLOW are my prayers.  Normally I pray, “Dear God, please bless Sally and help her with her busy day.”

That’s a wimpy prayer.  Come on, Maria, you can do better. Put some muscle in that prayer! Pray like you mean it!  Here are the two options, depending on my friend’s status with God:

  • Lord, you have paid the price to rescue Sally from being under the curse of God’s justifiable wrath.  She now has peace with God and access to His throne and you as her heavenly intercessor. Awaken her awareness of all the spiritual blessings and promises of future grace at her disposal because of the work you did at the cross.  Help her to remember THIS TREASURE. Remind her of your promise to provide all the grace she needs for each need this busy day.

Or for a friend who is not yet a believer

  • Lord, thank you for the painful need (whatever the circumstances) in Sally’s life.  Continue to make her aware of her inability to handle life on her own.  Open her eyes to the real and present danger of living under the curse of God’s wrath.  May she SEE Jesus and realize that through his death on the cross, he absorbed the judgment due her.  May she embrace and receive that act on her behalf as the most amazing gift of all.  May she then treasure her new relationship with God and learn to come frequently and easily to your throne with each detail of her life.  May she learn EARLY that she is not meant to handle life on her own.  Thank you for this circumstance in her life that you are using to bless her.

Please pray that I may care enough about my friends and family members to invest this kind of time and energy in praying for them.  And pray for me this way!

The Gift of Waiting

December 4, 2010

Maria Peace, Prayer, Psalm 40 , , Leave a comment

Ps 40 :1-3  I waited patiently for the Lord.  He turned to me and heard my cry.  He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud & mire. He set my feet on a rock
and gave me a firm place to stand.   He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God.

**

I’ve been waiting a long time for God to act in my husband’s life about a particular need.  He’s always felt frustrated with work. He hasn’t found a place YET where the fit was good, where he could blossom, grow and contribute in a way that brought him joy.  Nonetheless, he has continued to work hard, amply providing for our family.

So I have prayed for years and waited, watching expectantly.  I have learned how to pray, how to nurture that humble attitude that commands us to cast all our cares on the One who loves us.  As I have matured during this wait, I have practiced casting those anxieties back onto God.  My prayers for my husband have grown very specific, that by this provision of an appropriate job, God would open rivers on bare heights, bring dead bones to life, turn his gloom into noonday and exchange mourning for joyful oil.  And I wait, patiently.  Through years of learning to pray, trust and wait for God to reveal His solution, my confidence in Him has grown.  Here is how that has transpired.  And I think this may be one benefit to waiting.

While God tarries in this situation, I am encouraged each time He DOES answer prayers among brothers & sisters in Christ.   I am blessed to be attached to a church family, part of which is Calvary Reformed Presbyterian Church in Hampton, VA and part of which is the wider body, the near and far-flung Christian friends & family.  I hear answers to prayers on a regular basis.  Each time God acts in someone else’s life, my faith in Him grows deeper.  He IS who He says He is.  He DOES act according to His word.  Hallelujah!

Even though our verse of the new song hasn’t been written yet, the larger choral number is nevertheless being assembled as more and more Christian friends are pulled out of their own pits.  And I keep my voice warmed up to sing that hymn of praise about our particular need.

Evidence of empty pits

  • Recently conceived triplets for a couple who has prayed long & hard
  • A teacher to fill a school vacancy.   The 2 ladies who did double duty to ‘cover’ that class have kicked off their shoes to dance the King David Jig
  • A recovered West Point ring for a friend’s son
  • A reconciliation and warming among two elders in another church
  • Business leads and contacts beginning to come in for a young entrepreneur
  • A report of ‘no more cancer’ for a student’s mom
  • A friend’s change in medication that has made a big difference in chronic fatigue
  • A local job and promotion for a student’s dad when he was going to have to move away
  • Deployed friends’ safe returns
  • The miraculous arrival of an unpilfered container to missionaries in Africa

Each time God answers one of these prayers, I rejoice and my resolve to ‘hypomeno’ (persevere, abide, endure with joyful patience, hold on TIGHT) grows.

I know that God has our best interests at heart, even if that means that He doesn’t answer this prayer the way I have asked.  Thus I can rest in the fact that we have the God of Jacob, the Lord of Hosts sovereignly at work in our lives.  Surely the lessons learned in the process are priceless treasures.

And speaking of treasure, in closing I’ll quote a curious verse that is growing dear to me:

Is 33:6 – And He (Yahweh – the Lord) shall be the stability of your times; a wealth of salvation, wisdom and knowledge.  The fear of the Lord is your treasure.

This fear of the Lord refers to a CORRECT view of God and thus treating Him as He is: sovereign creator and Lord of us all.  When we begin to value and love God for who He is, then we begin to realize the treasure we have.  Who would not want to be in the correct relationship with the Creator/Artist who designed and chose us?  Since we are His creation, He will ensure that we fulfill the purpose for which He designed us.

Be at peace.

 

Either/ or – what we feed on

August 23, 2010

Maria Ephesians, Matthew, Philippians, Prayer , , Leave a comment

The Gospel of John: 53Jesus said to them, “I tell you the truth, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood; you have no life in you. 54Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life and I will raise him up at the last day. 55For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink. 56Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him. 57Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on me will live because of me.

Are you walking dead?  You are, if you are feeding your mind with thoughts about your circumstances.  I’ve been thinking of the choice we have every moment about what to think about.  I realize that if I am dwelling on (i.e.  Worrying about, fretting over) anything, then I am not growing, but dying.  Life comes from feeding on, pondering about, marveling at the many FACTS of my life in Christ.  Here’s the catch.  It takes effort to remind myself of my riches.

What are all those spiritual blessings stored up for me in heaven?   Paul talks about them a lot. In Ephesians 1: 3 he assures us that we who are chosen by God before the foundation of the world have been blessed with EVERY spiritual blessing in Christ.   All that Christ our redeemer intended to accomplish awaits us.  That would include:

-my sins being removed and laid on Him

-perfect righteousness being credited to me because of what Jesus did

-everlasting life in a place that will be fascinating

-forever fellowship with those whom I love who are also believers

-living and working on a new earth where real peace reigns.

Why is it SO much easier to think about the stuff I have to do, or the difficult decisions that face me, or friends and family who are suffering?  Thoughts about those things come naturally.  And they drain away life.

Jesus says in John that we have life to the extent that we feed on him.  I take that to mean thinking thoughtfully and deeply and with appreciation and wonder about the facts of our faith.  Look above at verse 54 again.  The verbs are in the present tense.  As we feed, we have life.  So the life is not for later, but for right now.

Jesus gives us this very same advice in another format.  Remember what Matthew records in chapter 6, verses 31, 33?  My paraphrase is: Don’t worry/ dwell on/ fret about all the normal things of life, but SEEK first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and you’ll get the other necessities thrown in.  But look at the strength of the verb SEEK.  The Greek word is ZETEO (# 2212) and it means require, worship, will, go after, endeavor.  Those are very active words.  Compare them with how easy it is to fall into worry.  We don’t have to be taught or motivated to fret.  (Come on kids, let’s practice anxiety.  Susie – look at how much better your sister is than you.  Make an effort…)

Along with seeking God’s kingdom, we are to strive for His righteousness.  I take that to mean God’s way of living rightly.  And throughout the Bible, God calls us to believe and to rejoice.   Living God’s way, walking according to His Word has to do with right or correct thinking.  We’re talking about the arena of the mind.  We are far too casual with our thought life.  In fact, we feel entitled to think what we want.  “Who are you to tell me how and what to think?” Well, maybe I don’t have any authority of my own as a fellow human, but God does.  He is our creator.  And He commands us to rejoice.  But we cannot rejoice unless we have content.  This is why believing God and feeding on Jesus takes effort.

Don’t get me wrong, God doesn’t dismiss as unimportant our circumstances, our loved ones’ suffering.  In fact He commands us to pray about them and to cast our cares about everything on Him.  But nowhere does He call us to worry.   We are to BELIEVE, PRAY, TRUST, REJOICE, OFFER THANKS, REPENT, WAIT, REST, BE STILL.  Do you see anything at all akin to worry?

In closing, I commend a book to you by Francis Chan called Crazy Love.  What got me thinking about this was author’s realization on page 41: “When I am consumed by my problems – stressed out about my life, my family, and my job – I actually convey the belief that I think the circumstances are more important than God’s command to always rejoice.  In other words, that I have a ‘right’ to disobey God because of the magnitude of my responsibilities.”

Amen!

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