Showing posts with label Worship and Prayer. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Worship and Prayer. Show all posts

Short Prayer that Caught Jesus' Full Attention

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Short is powerful. Jesus' prayers were short. I remember him multiplying loaves of bread and fish to feed 5,000. It was an astounding miracle. If we were to do it, we'd probably say a long, poetic and dramatic prayer. But not Jesus. All he did was look up and say thanks. Not surprisingly, he also seemed to favor short prayers from others. Here's a short prayer that caught Jesus' full attention.

After going down the Mount of Transfiguration Jesus and his core disciples saw a commotion. First, his disciples were arguing with some teachers of the law. Second, a boy was demon-possessed and his disciples failed to dislodge it. The boy's dad complained.
“Teacher, I beg you to look at my son, for he is my only child. 39 A spirit seizes him and he suddenly screams; it throws him into convulsions so that he foams at the mouth. It scarcely ever leaves him and is destroying him. 40 I begged your disciples to drive it out, but they could not.” [Luke 9]


Short is Often Led

It was a short prayer that caught Jesus' full attention. He reprimanded his disciples at once for bungling on the job. The concise 15-second prayer got immediate attention from heaven. Jesus had the boy brought to him and rebuked the demon. A few moments later, the boy was completely healed. Short and heartfelt prayer is powerful.

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I timed it. I said the man's words naturally and timed it. It took only 15 seconds. Matthew's record of the "prayer" took 10 seconds. If I were to pray for this boy, it'd probably take me a minute or two, and I'd probably choose poetic and noble-sounding words to produce some drama. Well, actually I quit saying long prayers like that decades ago when I saw how Jesus prayed, though I still tend to say wordy prayers now and then.

It's really how the Holy Spirit leads you to pray. It may be long or short. The point is, do not make any formula. Be led. And take note how effective prayers were made in the bible. You'd notice they were short. And always make Jesus your model. He is the WAY. And Jesus said short but heartfelt prayers. So I always opt for short and heartfelt (I guess that's how the Spirit leads me), like this short prayer that caught Jesus' full attention.

Was That a Prayer?

Not many preachers see the man's statement here as prayer. It's an unseen Gospel, seen only by those who see in the Spirit. To many, prayer should be preceded by, "Let us pray." And then we close our eyes and start our declamation. And we modulate our voices and make it sound like something exclusive to the 1930's or 1950's and put some drama to it. I don't know why some folks have to modulate their voices. Can't we use our natural tone in prayer?

Any request made to God is a prayer. As simple as that. Some insist that prayers should follow the ACTS formula---it must have adoration, confession, supplication and thanksgiving. Well, this man's prayer was not ACTS-formulated but it caught Jesus' attention pronto. The man simply came to Jesus and said his petition. I admire the natural way it was all done. I can imagine how he didn't have to modulate his voice or close his eyes or say, "Let us pray."

Two Types of Complaints

The man "complained" in his prayer, not in the sense of complaining against God, but complaining about the wrong done to his boy by the demon. He practically squealed on the devil. We see this type of prayer a lot in Psalms where the psalmist complained to God about the wrongs done to him by other people.

Well, one of Jeremiah's prayers was a complaint against God. He accused God of "deceiving" him by being a "deceptive brook," [15.18]. God corrected him and urged him to repent at once.
“If you repent, I will restore you that you may serve me; if you utter worthy, not worthless, words, you will be my spokesman."
I often find comfort in prayer complaints as a form of seeking refuge in God, telling on the world, the devil and the cruelty of religious people who hate the present move of God and the unseen Gospel. I run to God and tell him everything. In person you often see me in good spirits, cool, patient, tolerant, broadminded and unaffected by adversity. And I usually am. You'd very seldom see me angry. But deep inside I always want to run to God and seek refuge. He's like a tower to me when I'm under attack. I fall on his laps and cry in my spirit.

And often I don't say long and high-sounding prayers. I just cry and moan and whisper short telegraphic messages most times. In times when I'm okay, I often just sit with God by my side and we'd both look afar, quietly musing, aware that he knows. I may tell him some things in whispers or in mental conversations, sometimes in audible casual talks, too, always aware how this dad in the passage petitioned for his kid in a short prayer that caught Jesus' full attention.

UNSEEN GOSPEL: And even if our gospel is unseen, it is unseen to those who are perishing. [2 Corinthians 4.3]

How to Experience the Supernatural Now with Prayers

The supernatural is rarely seen in churches today, if any. But if you hunger for the days in the bible when God's signs and wonders and miracles happened left and right, then you are in the right direction. And it's not yet too late to start it. God never changes. 

You can experience the supernatural now with prayers if you know the right principles to apply. Prayer that results to God's supernatural powers is not the prayer recitals we often hear in churches today--using eloquent words that sound more like poems or oratory than talking with God. Or something that sounds more like opening remarks in a formal college event or a privilege speech in Congress--but gets no result.

Where are the Miracles Today?

Honestly, a lot of prayers today don't get answered, and if something seem to get answered it is merely God's general provision for both the good and evil--both good and bad people get the provision, with or without prayers. Many of us are tired of things like that.

We want stuff we see in the bible happen to us today. Don't you want to see believers turning water into wine, walking on water, commanding clouds to rain or stop raining, or dividing entire seas so we can cross over continents on dry ground? Unbelievers would laugh at this as something stupid, but serious believers like you won't. But you just don't know how to start it. 

The e-book, "How to Pray for God's Miracles in Your Life--and Experience the Supernatural," shares vital Kingdom principles on how to operate in God's signs and wonders and miracles as they happened in the bible--or how to join God in his ministry today in the modern world. If you seriously long for the days when God personally intervened in the church with his supernatural presence, this e-book is for you.

Or, you probably just need an urgent miracle in your life--for yourself or a loved one--and you need to have a solid bible foundation to have your prayers powerfully trigger it. You don't know where in the bible the principles involved are specifically found and you want one single book to tell you all about it so you won't have to search for them yourself. Then this e-book is a must-have.

Buy Now!

The e-book costs you only US$ 3.50 or only about Php 154.00 or so. After paying through Paypal, you will be immediately brought to a webpage where you click a button to download your PDF copy of the e-book right away! You get the e-book a few seconds after paying! 

A Timely Worship is Not When Your're Blessed

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It's so easy to praise God when you're so blessed materially. It's easier to quote verses and preach about thanking God when you're financially well off. But when dry times come and there's no harvest of grapes to make wine with, the fields have yielded zero grain so that no grain offering is possible, there's no shewbread for the priests, and the livestock has died due to famine, what can you offer for worship?

But it's dry times when God waits with interest for our worship. It's when we seem to have nothing that God watches how we sacrifice for him. Sacrifice that cost you nothing isn't worth anything to God, said David once. If you're well off and your sacrifice doesn't hurt you much--though it's awesomely a huge amount of money to those who have nothing--God isn't impressed. It's when you have nothing that God pays attention to what you'd sacrifice for him.

The poor widow's offering is a case in point. We often hear the story but we never get the idea especially come worship time. The story goes like this--the rich gave huge sums in the offering box. The offerings were acceptable to men but Jesus wasn't impressed. However, when a poor widow gave her "very small copper coins," Jesus remarked: "She put in more than what all the rich people had given combined," or something to that effect. And to think that this was a poor widow made the giving seem more impossible, but she did it anyway.

From that, the principle is clear--a timely worship is not when you're materially blessed but when you have a lack of it--even a severe lack of it. But no one's been paying attention. We all want to give from a position of abundance. So we all ask God for huge finances to keep us from any lack, not knowing that we forfeit ourselves of a good opportunity to give. When we're well off, we brag about it and show people how we're so blessed and favored by God!

We don't realize that lack is a blessed opportunity from God. He often works out things to create a temporary financial lack because he wants to bless you with a timely opportunity to honor God with your sacrificial giving. Do you see this? To God, the more the lack, the higher the sacrifice, the higher the faith requirement, so the more God is pleased. Hence, your financial blessedness is really a disadvantage in the Spirit realm. Your offering may be tolerably acceptable but you can never please God the way the poor widow did, unless you give all your finances up!

Remember this vital Kingdom principle on giving: "Out of her poverty, she put in everything." And that means everything! No one can change this truth. Your giving can never catch God's attention unless it follows said principle. No wonder, the poor are more blessed.

"But the brother of humble circumstances is to glory in his high position; and the rich man is to glory in his humiliation," [James 1.9-10]. 

Do you believe this? When you're materially blessed, be aware of your low position in God's Kingdom. This is the best you can do to catch God's attention--realize your "low position." Never brag about your giving or try to set yourself an example of a "giver"--which many Christian "givers" do today--unless you give up all your money and possessions and give to the poor, which I doubt the rich in church would do. Even if you give one million pesos as offering and you still have P50K remaining, don't feel so good about it. You have only given back what God gave you.

I've seen how some rich "givers" controlled church affairs and the pastor, just because they gave huge sums to the church. Some dictated to the pastor and some kicked out the pastor. And they thought they were doing right.

If you're rich and you give just a portion of your wealth, the bible says remember your low or humble position. Just give it and shut your mouth. That's what God wants to see in your heart. But if you're poor, God blessed you with that opportunity because he wants you to do a real sacrifice for him. So do it with cheer in your heart--he loves a cheerful giver!