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Category Archives: Prayer

But Even If He Does Not…

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Has your faith in God ever been shaken because He didn’t answer your prayers in a specific way? Have you ever doubted His love for you because you had to endure a painful trial? Many believers have.

Recently, God has been teaching me the same truth in several different ways. He must want to make sure I learn it. Here it is:

My faith must be in God and not in what I hope He will do for me.

Where is your faith?Where is your faith?

Since January, I’ve been leading a group of ladies through a study called “Live a Praying Life” by Jennifer Kennedy Dean. It is transforming our prayer lives and our understanding of God. In Week Ten, Jennifer explains that many believers become discouraged with prayer because they have a misguided understanding of faith.

Many of us mistakenly think that faith is “believing real hard.” If we believe hard enough then God will do what we want Him to do. Heal our spouse. Save our friend. Provide a job. Then when things don’t turn out like we want our assumption is that God doesn’t care or that God doesn’t answer prayer.

The problem with this thinking is that we’ve put our “faith” in an outcome instead of in our all-knowing, all-powerful God. Jennifer clarifies the issue:

Faith is not knowing how God will bring His will into being; faith is knowing that God will bring His will into being.

 Into a fiery furnace

Those three faithful friends – Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego – demonstrate what it looks like to have faith in God and not an outcome. When the Babylonian authorities ordered these Israelite captives to bow down and worship King Nebuchadnezzar’s golden statue or be thrown in the fiery furnace, they put their faith firmly in God.

“If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to save us from it, and He will rescue us from your hand, O king. But even if He does not, we want you to know, O king, that we will no serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up.” Daniel 3:17-18, NIV

These words grab my heart. They are one of the boldest declarations in all of Scripture. “Our God is able! But even if He does not…”

We place our faith in God and worship Him because He is God and He is able. Not because He will see fit to handle things the way we, in our limited understanding, think they should be handled.

Living by Faith

The “Hall of Faith” in the eleventh chapter of Hebrews, further demonstrates this truth. We learn that some “escaped the edge of the sword” while others were “put to death by the sword.” Some “conquered kingdoms” and others faced “jeers and flogging.” Some “routed foreign enemies” and others were “chained and put in prison.”

The common denominator in every life described in Hebrews eleven was not the physical outcome of their situation. No, rather each life memorialized in this well-loved chapter placed unshakeable faith in God. However He chose to use their life to further His kingdom, their faith remained solid and safe in the Person of God.

What does this mean for you and me? We can stand firmly on the truth that God will carry out His purposes. They will not be thwarted. The temporary physical circumstances may not be what we would choose, but we can know that God is working. We can peacefully rest in His loving, protective arms and trust His outcome.

Have you ever found yourself putting your faith in an outcome rather than God? Share a time that you were discouraged because your prayers were not answered in the way you thought they should have been.

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5 Things to Pray from Inside a Fish

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Jonah had gotten himself into a real mess. When God told him to go the wicked city of Ninevah to announce His judgment, Jonah immediately went in the opposite direction. The Bible tells us he ran “to get away from the LORD” (Jonah 1:3).

The disobedient prophet went to the coast and boarded a ship, hoping to escape from God and the difficult task he desperately wanted to avoid. But Jonah’s disobedience set off a domino of horrific consequences and before he could bait a hook, the rebellious child of God was looking at life from inside the belly of a fish.

I’ve been there. Not literally inside a fish like Jonah, but definitely surrounded by the consequences of my rebellion What about you? Have you ever been “caught” by the consequences of sin?

Prayer, repentanceGod Provides Even when We Sin

Yet, even in disobedience God provided for Jonah. The book of Jonah doesn’t give us details about the great fish or what it was like “on the inside,” but Jonah obviously could at least breathe! God also gave Jonah plenty of time to think – and pray.

The Bible tells us that after three days and nights inside the fish “then Jonah prayed to the LORD his God” (Jonah 2:1). I don’t know about you, but I don’t think it would have taken me that long to turn to prayer!

What to Pray When You’re Suffering from the Consequences of Sin

Caught in the consequences of sin, with God as his only hope, Jonah prayed. I see five significant components of Jonah’s prayer – great for all of us to remember the next time we’ve been “caught” by sin (see Jonah 2:2-9).

  1. Jonah asked God to help him in his time of need.
  2. Jonah acknowledged the LORD as his Savior and the one, true God.
  3. Jonah repented of his disobedience.
  4. Jonah praised God.
  5. Jonah committed to obey God.

Second Chance for Obedience

The Lord heard Jonah’s prayer and answered it. We know this because the specially prepared fish couldn’t stomach the prophet and regurgitated Jonah up on the beach. Plus, God gave Jonah a second chance for obedience.

When God rescued Jonah, his mission was still waiting. This time Jonah obeyed. It would have been so much easier for Jonah to obey the first time around. He could have avoided so much heartache. And while it’s easy for me to look at Jonah’s life and shake my head, I know I’ve done the same thing. More than once.

So, I pray the fish prayers and ask God to help me obey more quickly the next time.

What about you? Have you ever prayed from inside a fish? Did you take God’s second chance for obedience?

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Heaven’s Thanksgiving

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Thanksgiving

Pecan pie and Turducken, 2011

Happy Thanksgiving! My house is full of family today. We are happily cooking and baking and visiting and playing.Of course there will also be dishes. I am grateful for my full house and God’s abundant provision. I am even grateful for dirty dishes and what they represent.

We will bow our heads in prayer today and voice our gratitude to God. These earthly prayers will lift to heaven where they will blend with the perpetual thanksgiving that surrounds God’s throne.

Whenever the living creatures give glory, honor and thanks to him who sits on the throne and who lives for ever and ever,the twenty-four elders fall down before him who sits on the throneand worship him who lives for ever and ever. They lay their crowns before the throne and say:

“You are worthy, our Lord and God,
to receive glory and honor and power,
for you created all things,
and by your will they were created
and have their being.”

Rev 4:9-11

All the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures. They fell down on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, saying:

“Amen!
Praise and glory
and wisdom and thanks and honor
and power and strength
be to our God for ever and ever.

Rev 7:11-12


And the twenty-four elders, who were seated on their thrones before God, fell on their faces and worshiped God, saying: “We give thanks to you, Lord God Almighty,
the One who is and who was,
because you have taken your great power
and have begun to reign.

Rev 11:16-17

In heaven, the elders, the living creatures, the angels, and all the citizens of heaven offer constant praise, worship, and thanksgiving to God. Let’s consider today as practice for eternity. May we lift thanksgiving and praise today that glorifies the One who was, and is, and is to come. Hallelujah!


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Can’t you just be still?

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Monday Minute in the Word, devotionalSeveral years ago I went away to spend two days alone with God. For my spiritual retreat, I chose a hotel in a tiny town with one street. There was no television, radio, or room service. Just me and my heavenly Father. Sounds great, right?

I quickly discovered I had a lot to learn about silence, solitude, and spending focused time in prayer. As the sun set on that first day I felt restless and just a little bit panicked. What was I going to do with all this time alone with God?

Be still, and know that I am God… Psalm 46:10a, NIV

Psalm 46 celebrates the presence of God with His people. The psalmist calls the people of God to forget all the things that vie for our time and attention and be still before the only One is who is deserving.

Forget the clock. Forget the to-do list. Forget everything and be still before Him. Often said; seldom done.

We often cite busy lives, a lack of time, as the reason we don’t spend more time still before God. Yes, our culture not only fosters a busy lifestyle, it honors it.

But did you know the average American spends 8 1/2 hours a day watching television, using computers, and in various other forms of entertainment? (Article in New York Times, Dec. 2006)

Think for a minute. How much time do you spend in these activities? How much time do you spend in prayer?

Praying, sitting still in the presence of God, is how we come to know Him, experience Him; learn to depend on Him. If we believe in the power of prayer, and more specifically the nature of the God to whom we pray – then we will pray. Regularly and often; continuously and fervently.

I haven’t gotten this right. I am still a prayer babe. Like an active toddler who can’t sit still for five minutes, I so often sit down with God only to be up and moving again far too soon.

But I’m practicing Psalm 46:10. Because it’s in the stopping and the stillness and the waiting that we meet Him.

How are you doing with sitting still before God? In what specific ways do you struggle? What tips can you share for “being still?”

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Jesus, Our Intercessor – Monday Minute in the Word

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Monday Minute in the Word, devotionMany friends and family from the southern United States visited us when we lived in Alberta. It probably had more to do with the beautiful Canadian Rockies and the great city of Calgary than spending time with the Howards, but we enjoyed every minute.

These visits often required me to do a little “interpreting” and even “interceding.” I helped Americans figure out their Canadian currency. I converted from metric measure to US measurement and back again. I explained that toboggans are sleds and toques are hats. I played interpreter for a Canadian dry cleaner and one of my very southern speaking visitors. And I even defended a Canadian’s right to use the French term “serviette” for a napkin to a very egocentric American teenager.

I had a unique perspective. As an American who had lived in Canada for a number of years, I understood and appreciated both sides of things. I had been north of the border long enough to teach the Americans what they didn’t know. And since I am an American I could also gently put one in their place when necessary.

Because Jesus Christ became man, He has a unique perspective. Although fully God, Jesus knows exactly what it’s like to be man, because He was also fully man. He alone is qualified to be our intercessor.

 So then, since we have a great High Priest who has entered heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to what we believe. 15 This High Priest of ours understands our weaknesses, for he faced all of the same testings we do, yet he did not sin. 16 So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most. Hebrews 4:14-16, NLT

An intercessor acts on the behalf of someone else. They plead another’s case and attempt to reconcile differences. Jesus Christ stands before God the Father on our behalf, as our advocate. He not only reconciled our differences He made a way for us to be completely and fully restored into right relationship with God.

Jesus gave His life to pay the penalty our sin had earned. Therefore, we are able to enter God’s presence with confidence and receive His grace and mercy to help us in our need.

How does reflecting on Jesus’ role as your intercessor encourage your faith today?

 

 

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