One Prayer - Different Answers?

Janie had been disobedient and refused to follow her mother’s instructions. Wanting her to learn the importance of obedience and necessity of prayer, her mother sent her to her room to ask God to help her. In a few moments she returned to the kitchen where her mother was preparing the evening meal.

“Mom,” she announced, “I prayed about my disobedience.”

“Good,” said her mother. “Did you ask God to help you to be a good girl?” 

“No, Mom, I didn’t,” she answered. “Instead I asked Him to help you put up with me.”

Jesus said something important about obedience: “Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me.” There is always a connection in Scripture between love and obedience. Again, He said, “If you love me you will obey my commandments.”

If we say that we love God we will show this love by being obedient to Him. When we look at the life of Jesus, we see a relationship between a Father and His Son founded on love and reflected in obedience. His life set the standard for us to follow.

It was His sacrificial life that ultimately showed us what it means to obey the Father. When we waver in our obedience to Christ we need to examine our lives to make certain that what we say is seen in what we do.

Prayer: Help us, Heavenly Father, in our struggle to be obedient to You. We know that selfish temptation often overwhelms us – but give us strength to persevere. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

Scripture for Today: John 14:21 Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. The one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love them and show myself to them.

Flawed! Discard It!

A great sculptor was commissioned to create a statue of Napoleon. The marble was ordered from a quarry in Greece known for its quality materials. As soon as it arrived in the studio of the famous sculptor, Canova, he examined it carefully. To his dismay he noticed that it was not perfect.

In disgust he shouted, “Discard it! It has a flaw in it. I will not lay my chisel upon it.”

How fortunate we are that God’s attitude toward and acceptance of sinners are the exact opposites. Paul boldly declares that God saved us “by His grace” – a word that means strong kindness toward someone! Imagine, if you can, how important God’s grace is for us.

God is perfection and only perfection is good enough for Him. But, our very nature condemns us and will not allow us to grow into anything near perfection. So, if we are ever to get near to God, then, it must be on His terms.

God is also love. This love that we do not deserve or can ever understand is what makes grace necessary. There is nothing we could ever do that would enable us to remove the flaws in our lives. We need Someone who is above us and beyond us Who will reach out to us and say: “In spite of your flaws, I love you and will forgive you and transform you by My grace if you have faith in my Son.”

In spite of their flaws, Jesus called men to be His disciples who were like us: ordinary sinners saved by grace. Accept His grace and love today.

Prayer: Lord, it’s not about breaking Your laws that requires Your grace, but breaking Your heart. Forgive us, transform us and enable us to live worthy of Your love. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

Scripture for Today: Ephesians 2:8-9 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast.

Free From Fear

The word “freedom” carries with it the idea of being free from any restraints or not being bound by any regulations, rules or requirements. Many long to live a life with no obligations, no opposition or no oppression.

Yet all of life is wrapped with boundaries of one nature or another. Highways are divided by traffic lanes, stop signs, caution signs, turning lanes and many other constraints. Every athletic contest or sporting event has specific lines, certain types of equipment or clothing and regulations to control the activities of the participants. Even something as simple as boiling water has specific criteria.

Rarely, if ever, do we pause to consider all of life’s limits. We take for granted the ability to move about at will, make independent choices and manage our own affairs. But does moving and choosing and managing make us free? Not really. They still involve constraints in the final analysis. Where, then, do we find freedom?

Paul said, “Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.” God, through Christ, offers us the priceless gift of living each day free from destroying ourselves and free to become who He wants us to be and doing what He has created us to do. But we must allow His Spirit to direct us along the path He has laid out for us. We can only be free if we have accepted the forgiveness of God through Christ and choose to live for Him.

Prayer: Lord, may we not fool ourselves into thinking we are free if we are enslaved by sin and have not been forgiven. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.

Scripture for Today: 2 Corinthians 3:17  Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.

Straight From Azalea Avenue

STRAIGHT FROM AZALEA AVENUE

Jane was very specific in each prayer she offered to God. Her “This Is What I’m Asking You For, Jesus” list contained detailed information about each person or item that she had written on her list.

One night following her “In Jesus’ Name, Amen”, she paused for a moment and then added the message: “Lord, these requests come directly to You from Azalea Avenue, Savannah, Georgia!”

It would be interesting to know exactly what was on Jane’s prayer list. But it really does not matter. What we do know is that whatever was on her list was asked for “In Jesus’ Name.”

When Jesus said that we could “ask for anything in my name” we must never forget that our “asking” must be consistent with the character of God and will of God. We cannot expect God to grant our requests if they are contrary to who we know He is.

We know without any doubt that our God is a holy God and a righteous God and a loving God and a giving God who cared so much that He sent His only Son into the world to die for us and become our Savior and Lord. Certainly when we consider these four basic characteristics of God, we realize that they lead to a significant fact about our God: He is unselfish. A simple way to evaluate each of our requests is to ask: Is this prayer to glorify me or God?

Prayer: Father, we know that You want us to have the desires of our hearts. Help us understand Your will so that our requests will be consistent with Your Name. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

Scripture for Today: John 14:13-14 And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.

"For Us Or Against Us?"

It was the final football game of the season. The winning team would win the conference championship. Every player was giving their best and fighting with all their strength to win. Unfortunately, the quarterback of one team was severely injured and had to be carried off the field. His backup walked confidently onto the field to take his place.

On the first play he fumbled the ball but quickly fell on it and avoided a costly mistake. Then he threw an incomplete pass. On his third play he threw an interception and the player who caught the ball ran the length of the field giving the opposing team a victory and the championship.

After the game when the team assembled in the locker room the coach said to the losing quarterback, “Son, which side were you on?”

In the book of Exodus we read of a situation where Moses confronted the people whom Aaron allowed to get completely out of control. He refused to let things remain as they were and challenged them by saying: “All of you who are on the Lord’s side come here and join me!”

Perhaps each of us needs to respond to that very same statement. We may attend church, carry a Bible, sing hymns and even pray. But when we get into the “game of life” do those around us know “which side we are on?” Does what we say and do represent the Lord favorably?

Prayer: Heavenly Father, we know that there are times in our lives when the world does not know which side we are on. Forgive us and strengthen us, for Jesus’ sake. Amen.

Scripture for Today: Exodus 32:25-26 Moses saw that the people were running wild and that Aaron had let them get out of control and so become a laughingstock to their enemies. So he stood at the entrance to the camp and said, “Whoever is for the LORD, come to me.” And all the Levites rallied to him.