Petition

Petition

October 10, 2016

Luke 1:13  "But the angel said to him, 'Do not be afraid, Zechariah; your prayer has been heard.'"

Zechariah was an extremely common name in the Bible.  It was as common a name as Steven or John, today.  If I asked you about a famous Zechariah in the Bible, maybe a couple of you would recall one of the first few kings of Israel.  But there was one Zechariah who should be on the forefronts of our minds.  In the New Testament, there was a Zechariah who was a priest.  He wasn't THE high priest, but served in the temple and was on rotation to serve as a priest when a priest was needed.  Almost nothing is noteworthy about this guy except of few things we can surmise.  We can assume, from the Scriptures surrounding his story, that he was a devout man of God, a fervent prayer, and a fantastic role model as a father.  Who was this guy?  He was the father of John the Baptist.  What should make him such a role model to you and me was his steadfastness in prayer.

The Bible does not record any of his prayers except that an angel of the Lord appeared before him and said one of his prayers had been answered.  The prayer request was that his wife would conceive a child.  Remember, John the Baptist's mother was Elizabeth, a relative of Mary, the mother of Jesus.  Elizabeth was noted as being advanced in age for her years, beyond typical child bearing years.  Let's pretend, for all intents and purposes, that Elizabeth in modern terms would be considered in her fifties.  The Angel of the Lord appeared before Zechariah and told him his prayer for Elizabeth to bear a child had been answered.  You need to take a guess how long Zechariah probably prayed that prayer, how many years, over and over again he prayed that prayer.  My guess is he prayed that prayer close to 30 years, continually, before the angel appeared before him to answer his prayer request.  There is a specific term you can use to describe Zechariah's kind of prayer.  The word is petition.

Scripture says we should bring our requests to the Lord, though prayer and petition.  If you look up the word for petition in the original Aramaic, it means to humbly beg constantly, desperately, and on-going.  The Aramaic word defines Zechariah's prayer as that kind of prayer when the angel appeared to him and said his prayer had been answered.  You could say Zechariah's petition had been answered, after all it had been many, many years of the same prayer over and over again.  Zechariah did not give up on the prayer despite the seemingly mute reply even after a decade or two.  Notice I didn't say after a day or two of prayer; I said after a decade or two.  Zechariah is an example of fervent patient prayer of petition, humbly begging.  While begging isn't a polite term to describe the petition, it is carried in the meaning of the original Hebrew.

The term petition contains more meaning than only humbly begging over and over again.  Petition additionally means all sorts of prayers, any type of lifting up the request to the Lord.  It is safe to understand that a petition-type prayer would involve other people.  I doubt Zechariah's prayer was limited to just Zechariah.  I can guarantee He shared such a deep longing to his closest companions, fellow priests, and they also prayed.  I can safely say Mary, the mother of Jesus, was aware of Zechariah's prayer request for Elizabeth, and that she most likely prayed, too.  Mary, being a servant of the Lord, would have lifted up prayer for others.  This can be understood from the angel who appeared to Mary and referenced Mary's acknowledgment of Elizabeth's barrenness.  You couldn't be aware of someone's deep need and be considered a sincere servant without praying for others.  Mary was probably a part of Zechariah's petition.

You, too, have a sincere prayer request and I urge you to patiently and continually bring that prayer to the Lord, sharing it with your trusted friends and allowing them to pray with you in that request.  Don't pray once or twice, then figure the answer isn't coming.  Pray patiently EVERY single day.  So many Christians give up on the prayer request after a week or two.  Christian, it's time to pray with petition, allowing the Lord's grace to carry you until the answer is a yes or a no from the Lord.  If you've given up on a prayer request and feel it isn't worth it, yet you'd like help in petition, reply to this devotional e-mail with your first name and request, and I will gladly join you in the petition.  Be like Zechariah; learn from his example, his patient example of petition. 

Don't take my word for it; look it up:  Luke 1, Phil 4:4-7

When Will It Be Enough

When Will It Be Enough

October 3, 2016

2 Corinthians 12:9  "Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weakness, so that Christ's power may rest on me."

There are quite a few stories in the Bible that don't need retold for you to remember what happened.  Daniel in the lion's den is pretty famous, Noah and the ark is quite memorable, and the serpent in the Garden of Eden needs little reminding.  Another famous story you know much about is Paul's thorn in his flesh.  You instantly should remember the Apostle Paul prayed for the Lord to remove Paul's difficulty, but the Lord did not coalesce.  The Lord simply replied to Paul that His grace was sufficient for Paul, without the removal of the difficulty.  The expanded version of the story is not much more detailed then that.  You have the full essence of the story, and the punch line in almost one complete sentence.  But I would submit to you that the meaning is possibly lost on most of you reading this.

There is so much more to the story, however, that was never quite captured in Scripture.  Paul, upon hearing the Lord's response, had to submit to the Lord's decision.  After the Lord told Paul that grace should be enough to carry him through, Scripture record's Paul's response.  Paul said that he would boast in his own weakness, then, so the Lord's power would rest upon him.  It is quite a response, yet still does not paint the full picture.  There is a small story in between the Lord boasting in His grace for Paul and Paul deciding to boast in his own weakness.  The untold part of the story is how Paul had to wrestle and submit to the Lord's response to him, the Lord telling Paul that the Lord would not be removing the thorn in Paul's flesh, the Lord's denial to answer Paul's prayer request.  Essentially, that is what the Lord did; He denied Paul's prayer request and waited until Paul could submit to the denial.  The Scriptures only tell Paul's eventual response of boasting in his own weakness, but never discusses the emotions Paul had to wrestle with in order to submit to the Lord's denial.

Paul had to submit to the Lord's response to the situation, laying down what he wanted, how he thought the situation should be resolved, and stand strong in the Lord's design for his life.  Paul's story was a success and he accepted the Lord's response.  Paul didn't stop serving the Lord.  Paul didn't try to remove the difficulty by himself without the Lord's help.  Paul didn't become bitter or resentful by the difficulty.  Paul submitted to the Lord's grace for the situation and it was enough for Paul.  My question to you is when will the Lord's grace be enough for you?  When will it be enough for you to rest in the Lord's strength and stand firm that the answer you think you desire may not be forthcoming?  The Bible doesn't say how long Paul had to wrestle and submit to the Lord's design; it sums it up neatly in a few sentences.  I doubt Paul was as perfect and succinct in his wrestling with it as Scripture suggests.  The Bible wraps it up in two sentences but Paul had to come to grips that the difficulty, for now, was not going to be removed in the immediate future.  Have you come to the same conclusion in life as Paul?

You, Christian, are facing this same trial; you've asked the Lord to remove the problem and difficulty.  You don't see the Lord's answer forthcoming, and instead of submitting to the Lord's grace, you've decided to move forward in your own human effort to change the situation.  You don't want to rest in His grace, you want your answer they way you want your answer.  You don't want to trust in the Lord's sovereignty, you want to grasp at every straw possible until your fingernails are bleeding.  You don't want the Lord's grace, you want to be right and justified and vindicated over the difficulty.  But by denying the Lord's grace for you, by not submitting to the Lord's design and plan, you are creating more difficulty than the situation already presents.  In an effort to fight the difficulty, you end up hurting yourself even more.  When will the Lord's grace be enough for you?  When will you submit and accept that right here and right now is where God has you and wants you?  The more you fight it, the more it will hurt.  Yet the more you submit, the more successful you will be in navigating your difficulty.  It doesn't make sense to the logical mind, but you must trust in the Lord's sovereignty.  Accept His grace for you r situation today and see that it actually gets easier.

The Lord's response was enough for Paul.  When will it be enough for you?  Incidentally, re-read Paul's response when he accepts the Lord's answer.  He said that Christ's power came upon him.  I bet you could use some of Christ's power right now.

Don't take my word for it; look it up:  Es 4:14, Pr 3:5-6, Is 55:8-9, Rm 8:28 

No Rest Know Rest

No Rest Know Rest

September 26, 2016

Matthew 11:28  "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest."

A guilty conscience is a terrible thing; it will keep you from any rest.  It won't just keep you up at night, it will emotionally drain you, destroying you from the inside out like a cancer.  Trying to rid yourself of guilt can be tricky, causing you to run your life in such a way to make up for your sins.  The problem is, they will never go away, that guilt will never be lifted.  It will make you feel like you are trying to keep your head above deep water yet with cement tied to your waist, a futile endeavor just leaving you exhausted and ultimately drowned by the thing you were trying to escape.  The Lord says we should come to Him, those who are tired and heavy laden, and He will give us rest.  This rest, though, it is specific to guilt, forgiveness, a sense of righteousness, and freedom from past discipline.  It has nothing to do with the physical relief of your daily tasks.  Examine this with me.

People like to quote Scripture and say the Lord desires to give us rest from our burdens.  It says so in clear to understand words, "Come to be all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest."  True, it does say so, but it is specific to burdens of guilt without forgiveness, and the freedom from discipline if you've repented and turned to righteousness.  Re-read the entire chapter of Matthew 11, where this verse is tucked.  It starts out talking about John the Baptist foretelling of Jesus as the Messiah.  A Messiah is someone who delivers His people from something.  That something that Jesus came to deliver us from was our sins.  The book of Matthew was written to Jews who were familiar with the daily rituals of the Old Testament, rituals and sacrifices that were burdensome for removing your sins.  You couldn't just ask and receive forgiveness.  Jesus was declared to be that Messiah in Matthew chapter 11, right before He promised rest.  He was promising rest from guilt, rest from the burdens of daily sacrifices, rest from trying to make amends for your sin.

Further this study on Matthew chapter 11 and you'll find that it contains fulfillment of prophecy.  Some believe it references words spoken by the prophet Jeremiah, who talked about a deliverer (a Messiah) in a dream he had.  Read chapter 31 of Jeremiah and it will show imagery of people who are physically ready for a break.  At first glance this looks like the words of Jesus are to truly give us a break from our busy, over-worked lives.  However, if you look closely at all of Jeremiah 31, you'll find that the Israelites did in fact need physical rest from their busy lives, but for reason.  The Israelites that needed rest were physically exhausted from living in the discipline of the Lord's wrath for their behavior.  They had been unrepentant and the Lord scattered them and made their lives hard.  Their lives weren't over-stressed because they were trying to build a bigger house or make more money, they were actually being punished for their sins.  Their sins resulted in a difficult life, a physical situation the Lord allowed to get their attention.  The Messiah was there to deliver them and give them rest from that discipline.

The Jews in the Old and New Testament needed rest from the daily burden of making sacrifices for their sins.  The unrepentant needed rest from the physical discipline their life choices warranted.  Both scenarios put a burden on the shoulders of man that will make him weary.  You are weary, too, I know.  This gives you an option to evaluate your weariness and what it is making you tired.  Are you pursuing a life of living for yourself, striving after whatever you want?  This is actually a sin and will make you weary.  Are you unrepentant in life and does your life seem extra hard, harder than most other people's lives?  Maybe the Lord is trying to get your attention to repent of your sin.  Are you trying to rid yourself of quilt, running yourself to the bone to make amends for sins through sacrifices or good works?  The Lord desires to give you forgiveness so you might find rest.  In fact, read the last words of Matthew 11:29 where Jesus says, "learn from me."  He actually wants to teach you how to avoid being weary in the first place.  He wants to lift that burned on your life, the correct burden of what your sins do to you, which will ultimately free you.

Don't take my word for it; look it up:  Jeremiah 31, Matthew 11