Yesterday, I went through all the people on my prayer list without a single word. I played As I Survey the Wondrous Cross over and over, while I pictured each person surveying the wondrous cross.
I started with me – face to the ground.
Love so amazing, so divine,
demands my soul, my life, my all.
The wall-builders encountered resistance. Nevertheless . . .
Nehemiah 4:9 (KJV)
Nevertheless we made our prayer unto our God.
Spurgeon expanded on the principle behind Nehemiah’s action:
“If men make a jest of your religion, pray none the less. If they even become cruel and violent to you, pray none the less; never the less, not a word less, not a syllable less, not a desire less, and not any faith less.“
Nevertheless, pray all the more.
We are familiar with these words from Jesus to his disciples:
Matthew 26:41 (KJV)
Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation.
This Old Testament passage is similar:
Nehemiah 4:8-9 (KJV)
And conspired all of them together to come and to fight against Jerusalem, and to hinder it. Nevertheless we made our prayer unto our God, and set a watch against them day and night, because of them.
Watch (be vigilant) and pray. Pray and watch (set a guard). Meant to be done together.
I had a sign in my office:
Every problem is a communication problem.
Yes, indeed. My problem is that I need to communicate more. With God.
1 Thessalonians 5:17 (ESV)
Pray without ceasing.
I am reading Five Days at Memorial, how one hospital handled Hurricane Katrina. How might you respond to a disaster that seems to never end?
This paragraph jumped out to me:
“Underlying the official response to the crisis was a lack of situational awareness–a view of the larger picture of what was happening and what needed to be done.”
What they lacked was a God’s eye view, the mind of Christ:
1 Corinthians 2:16 NLV
But we have the thoughts of Christ.
Here’s a quote from a Civil War-era preacher who practiced what he preached and wrote what he practiced (9 books on prayer):
“Praying gives sense, brings wisdom,
and broadens and strengthens the mind.
The prayer closet is a perfect schoolteacher.”
He started each day with prayer. 4 to 7 AM. Daily.
One of our sons struggled to read. The letters danced across his pages, do-si-doing into mirror images of themselves. I discussed his problem with teachers, doctors, social workers and administrators. But not God.
I prefer this verse in the king’s English:
2 Timothy 1:7 (KJB)
For God hath not given us the spirit of fear;
but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.
A sound mind. The phrase doesn’t require a diagnosis and an Individualized Education Program. Doesn’t have to wait for an appointment.
If I had it to do over again, I’d start out with God, asking him to bless my boy with a sound mind.
Psalm 90:17 (ESV)
Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us,
and establish the work of our hands upon us;
yes, establish the work of our hands!
Establish, from the Greek kun, as in “a house set up on pillars.”
Ask God to establish the work of the teachers’ hands.
Ask God to establish the work of the students’ hands.
May it all be built on God’s firm foundation.
Back to school! What did/do you dread most?
Back to school. It’s a privilege. And it wasn’t always so.
In the early history of our church (our congregation is older than the nation), Sunday school was the only school for many children. Sunday morning offered a break from farm work and an opportunity for some education. The Bible was the textbook.
Let us pray for all children heading back to school:
May they eagerly study and do their utmost to present themselves to you, unashamed, correctly analyzing and accurately understanding your Truth. (from 2 Timothy 2:15-AMP)
