Over the next few days I would like to tell you about a good friend of mine.  A man who made it much easier for me to be a successful Police Officer and how to maintain my relationship with God during trying times on the job.

Jack was the only professing born again Christian on the department when I joined.  That was important to me for two reasons, first he was a good role model and I could ask him questions or bounce things off him that other officers would not understand; the second reason was actually more important.  Jack had broken the ice and had taken a lot of abuse as a Christian within the department.  Several of the officers said they and others had tried to get Jack to cuss, drink, or somehow relax his beliefs.  If asked, they would have said it wasn’t done maliciously; it was just part of the way police officers think and test their fellow officers and it became a game to them.   Who would be the one to break Jack?  What they just didn’t understand for many months, was Christianity and those values were the core of Jack’s being, to test him this way was as vicious as having a prostitute test the faithfulness of a husband, that would have been fiercely criticized.   Of course, most Christians go through these tests all their lives, it comes with standing up for Christ; but from what I was hearing they were pretty rough on Jack.

Because Jack had never cracked and had kept his humor and his standards, it was much easier for me.  They saw that a Christian could be a good officer so I did not incur the same intensity of their testing.  I am not sure I could have endured all he had; he is a much stronger person in the faith than I have ever been.

As in most professions, the real learning does not take place until the work is experienced.   However, experience is not always the best teacher, especially if it is not paired with training.   I had been a reserve officer, so I had some experience with law enforcement.  I was on the street relatively early because of that time as a reserve.  Back then we learned by experience.  To be sure, we were watched over, but when I was placed in a patrol car, by myself to handle calls, make traffic stops, etc. I was not as prepared for the work as I should have been – or thought I was.  I received minimal training as a reserve; it was mainly just riding, observing, listening to the stories of the regular officer and learning by osmosis.  There were some officers that taught during the dead time, but most of the time a reserve rides it is busy and there isn’t time to explain things.  Often the officer, who is use to being alone in a Patrol car and not having anyone to talk to, uses the time to talk about things other than police work and without really doing any training.  So was the case with me.

I was in a car early, because they had little choice.  The department was in transition and many experienced officers had, and were, leaving the department.  Some on their own and others were dismissed.  The department needed eyes on the street and positions filled.  To accomplish that goal I was given the keys to the patrol car, given my assigned area and told to “patrol your area and stay out of trouble.”

I was thankful to Sarge for the “Key Notes.”  But I knew it wasn’t enough.  I needed more and fortunately, the academy date was only a couple months away.  Putting a gun on the hip of an untrained person and putting them in a patrol car is rarely done today, but it was frequently done back then, not only in our department but also in almost every small department in the nation.  Officers were not as closely scrutinized back then, things were simpler and most of us had common sense; at least enough to try and stay out of trouble and wait for a more experienced officer before getting into something that might be serious.  When we could.

The experience of being on the street did help me when I went to the academy.  I could relate to the classes easier than those who had been sent directly to the academy after hiring.  I could see where I had made mistakes and it was early enough in my career that I had not yet gotten into habits that were too dangerous.  The training I received was critical however; the learning really began when I went back to the department and back on patrol.  Applying the training and seeing how we did some things differently developed me as an officer.

I still could ask questions of my assigned training officer and the sergeant, but often times they were not available.  When I did ride with them I would hear things like, “you can’t trust anyone but a police officer, they are the only ones that will watch your back;”  “most citizens don’t care about police officers and hate us;”  “your only friend is another policeman, forget about friends you use to have, they will desert you.”   There are many reasons police officers get into the mindset of us vs. the rest of the world.  I did not want to get into that mind set.

More tomorrow.

Mark 6:54-56 And when they were come out of the ship, straightway they knew him,

⁵⁵ And ran through that whole region round about, and began to carry about in beds those that were sick, where they heard he was.

⁵⁶ And whithersoever he entered, into villages, or cities, or country, they laid the sick in the streets, and besought him that they might touch if it were but the border of his garment: and as many as touched him were made whole.

What an exciting time for those that recognized Jesus.  They knew that now their friends and relatives would be healed.  They ran about and gathered all they could to bring to Him.

Everywhere He went miracles happened, all who believed and came to Him received His healing.  Age didn’t matter; man or woman, boy or girl didn’t matter; rich or poor; how sick or infirmed didn’t matter – all who recognized and came to Him were healed.

Incredible Joy must have abounded within these people.  Men and women who were sick or crippled from birth were made whole; people could see the results of Christ’s touch and clamored for it.

Jesus taught and the miracles were often used to reinforce His message.

Luke 5:24-26 But that ye may know that the Son of man hath power upon earth to forgive sins, (he said unto the sick of the palsy,) I say unto thee, Arise, and take up thy couch, and go into thine house.

²⁵ And immediately he rose up before them, and took up that whereon he lay, and departed to his own house, glorifying God.

²⁶ And they were all amazed, and they glorified God, and were filled with fear, saying, We have seen strange things to day.

While they did not have the internet, radio or tv to tell about Jesus, they had the word of mouth and stories His teachings and miracles proceeded Him wherever He would travel.

He couldn’t get away from the throngs of people, as soon as they saw Him they ran toward Him, they gathered their sick and afflicted friends and relatives and brought them to Him.

Yet, they seemed to forget as if these things never occurred, they lived with the results of His miracles but for some reason could not remember what His message was, and they forgot His miracle creating abilities.

Even the disciples, who traveled with Him everywhere, heard His message and saw what must have been thousands of miracles failed to accept who He was for a long time.

Mark 6:24-26 And he went up unto them into the ship; and the wind ceased: and they were sore amazed in themselves beyond measure, and wondered.

⁵² For they considered not the miracle of the loaves: for their heart was hardened.

How many times have we criticized, at least in thought if not speech, the Jews for failing to serve God.  The Old Testament is full of stories of God’s miracles and the failure of the Jewish people to worship and give Him His rightful place in their lives.  They quickly forgot their freedom from Egypt, they quickly forgot the parting of the sea, the food given to them on a daily basis, the strength of their clothing that did not wear out for 40 years and we know the list goes on; they turned from God to their own ways.

We shake our heads in wonder that He would even be crucified after all the miracles He performed as proof of who He was – where were these peoples’ heads, how in the world did they not accept Him with all the evidence before them, evidence they themselves had seen and experienced firsthand?!

But we really are no better.  We have experienced the Joy we felt as we confessed our sins and received His sacrifice.  We know that we are saved because of Jesus’ death of the cross.  We read how He impacted the people around Him, the miracles He performed and know the truth of the Word because the Holy Spirit brings it to our heart and mind.

We read of the miracles and the thousands of people that came forward and accepted Christ’s sacrifice.  We read of how those that believed in Him, lived and died that His message would be proclaimed.  Many performed miracles in Jesus’ name, healings and other signs of divine intervention in men’s lives followed them.

Yet, we forget.  We fail to acknowledge that Christ is able to take care of all our needs and help us through all our situations, no matter what they may be.  Instead of going to Him first we try to rectify our problems ourselves, leaning onto what we know and forgetting that we can come to Him.

It is never too late in the course of any event, to stop and call upon Him.  But, it is far better to get into the habit of seeking Him FIRST – it is amazing how much grief we can alleviate in our lives if we but learn to do that.

Later,  

From the ColumbiaRiverGorgeous
May Our Good Lord Bless and Keep YOU....’til we meet again

Rain!  Not a whole huge amount – about .10 inch thus far, but steady – allowing the ground to soak up the moisture and provide the needed water to the plants.  We are forecasted to have even more these next few days.

AND Snow on the mountain, hopefully in an increasing amount, going into our water tables and providing sufficient water this summer.

Carla’s peas are being well watered, but in some ways I hope they are either washed or frozen out – a couple dollars’ worth of seeds destroyed but hundreds of dollars’ worth of produced saved this summer.

Numbers 12:3 (Now the man Moses was very meek, above all the men which were upon the face of the earth.)

Reading this verse this morning really struck a chord within me.

Moses, the leaders of the Jewish people out of Egypt, the man who stood in front of the greatest earth king at the time and demanded that he release the Jews?

Moses who was in command of millions of Jews; he met with God, teaching God’s people, as he was directed, the precepts necessary to worship and obey God; he was the meekest of men?

Moses, who became THE most powerful leader of His time, HE was meek?

How can that possibly be?

The answer is in how we, as men, perceive meekness and how God perceives it.

When we look meek up in the dictionary this is what we find:  adjective, meeker, meekest.

1.  humbly patient or docile, as under provocation from others.

2.  overly submissive or compliant; spiritless; tame.

3.  Obsolete. gentle; kind.

Notice that gentle and kind are old terms for meekness, but we no longer use it for that.  We use the more ‘derogatory’ terms of submissive, spiritless, tame – when attacked a meek person buries his head in his hands and submits to the attacker.  To be meek is to be weak and a victim.

Meekness is weakness, not strength, in this day and age, and not a lifestyle to be led.  No one likes to be perceived as being weak and powerless.

When we think of meek people we think: acquiescent, compliant, deferential, resigned, submissive, unaggressive, unassertive, yielding; cowering, cringing, shrinking; ingenuous, naive (or naïve), plain, simple, unaffected; bashful, diffident, introverted, mousy (or mousey), overmodest, passive, quiet, reserved, retiring, sheepish, shy, subdued, timid, unobtrusive; aw-shucks, self-deprecating, self-deprecatory, self-effacing

None of these terms are acceptable to us.  It is not a virtue to be meek, but a detriment to our well-being.  It runs completely contrary to our self-worth and to our survival in life.

As a police officer part of my duty was to protect those that were weak (meek).  These people were victims who needed an intercessor and protector to keep them from harm; keep them from those that would take advantage of them. 

If we couldn’t protect them immediately, we could at least pursue that suspect and put him into the judicial system to be prosecuted and incarcerated – hopefully.

Cities create police forces, Counties have Sheriff offices, States have a police force, the federal government has a number of agencies to protect the citizens from threats within and also a military to protect it from threats outside the country.  Governments must protect their people and aggressive pursue those that would hurt them.

It is recognized that we must have law and order and when people disregard those laws to the detriment of others there needs to be a protector.  That protector has to be bold, confident and assertive – he cannot afford to be meek when it comes to the welfare of the citizens.

Meekness is considered a weakness – a police officer cannot afford to be considered weak.  It is unthinkable.

We know, though, that God doesn’t consider meekness to be an unthinkable condition – when He describes Moses as being the meekest man on earth, He does it as a show of pride and a statement of the importance of Moses’ submissiveness to Him.

God tells us that He wants us to be meek:

Psalm 37:11 But the meek shall inherit the earth; and shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace.

And Jesus reaffirmed what God had said earlier:

Mathew 5:5  Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.

Today, too many people think Jesus’ meekness meant He was not strong and forthcoming in His ministry.  Even a quick survey of the New Testament proves that thought inaccurate.  He confronted the leaders of the Jews and spoke to them as a teacher to an errant student who refused to obey.

John 7:26-28 But, lo, he speaketh boldly, and they say nothing unto him. Do the rulers know indeed that this is the very Christ?

²⁷ Howbeit we know this man whence he is: but when Christ cometh, no man knoweth whence he is.

²⁸ Then cried Jesus in the temple as he taught, saying, Ye both know me, and ye know whence I am: and I am not come of myself, but he that sent me is true, whom ye know not.

Yet, He told us He was meek and lowly in heart – that of course was His obedience to God’s commands and not man’s.

Mathew 11:28-30 Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

²⁹ Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.

³⁰ For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.

We are told that we are to be meek, showing that we are followers of Christ and obedient to God’s Word. 

1 Timothy 6:10-12   For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.

¹¹ But thou, O man of God, flee these things; and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness.

¹² Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art also called, and hast professed a good profession before many witnesses.

Yet, we are also to proclaim His word boldly.

Acts 4:13-14 Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men, they marvelled; and they took knowledge of them, that they had been with Jesus.

¹⁴ And beholding the man which was healed standing with them, they could say nothing against it.

What does it mean to be bold?  Dictionary definition is: adjective, bolder, boldest.

1. not hesitating or fearful in the face of actual or possible danger or rebuff; courageous and daring:

a bold hero.

2. not hesitating to break the rules of propriety; forward; impudent:

He apologized for being so bold as to speak to the emperor.

3. necessitating courage and daring; challenging:

a bold adventure.

Both Moses and Jesus were meek, yet, when it came to doing God’s work they did it boldly and without excuse.  We do well to emulate both their meekness towards God and their boldness in their service and obedience to God.

When it comes to our life in Christ we must be submissive to Him, obeying His commands and following the Holy Spirit’s leading.  We meekly submit our life to Him.  We do not seek fame and fortune to the detriment of our spirit, making us seek wealth and praise from others instead of being true to God.

Meekness is just one more trait God demands of us; along with patience and the wisdom He gives us, we can refrain from being overcome by the persecution of this world and rest in Him, knowing that HE is the one in charge and the only One we must answer to when the time comes.

May we be meek and submissive to God in our life; yet, may we boldly proclaim His work within us and His love of mankind so that He will be glorified and people will be drawn to Him.

Later, Art :-)

From the ColumbiaRiverGorgeous
May Our Good Lord Bless and Keep YOU....’til we meet again

Quiet day today, have some puttering around to do, Carla is off and playing in the dirt.  Think she said something about planting so peas – unusually early, but we shall see.

Blaze is spending more time outside, he lets the neighbors know that he is around, but unless there is something bothering him he quiets down.  Still has a long way to go, one step forward, five backwards and I haven’t had the ability to really work with him on a steady basis, I am hoping that will change in a couple months.

Not much else going on in our neck of the woods, just getting ready for more doctor visits.

Prayer, continued:  This is not an all-encompassing list, I have not even touched on the Old Testament verses concerning prayer and even many of the New Testament verses are not mentioned.  I write of these because I find I am in need of remembering these truths and commands and need to be more dedicated in my prayers on these matters.

Romans 8:26-27 Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.

²⁷ And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God.

Many of us have experienced the need to pray for someone, we do not know what is happening, we just know that the Spirit of God is leading us in prayer.

Several years ago I was driving along and a name of a friend came to mind, there was no apparent reason for it.  I wasn’t thinking of him, I wasn’t anywhere that would cause me to think of him, yet he came to mind.  I didn’t even think about praying for him although there was a tug on my heart to do so.

A couple days later I was in conversation with him.  He told me that he almost drowned.  He was rafting the Deschutes and his raft flipped over, trapping him underneath.  He was wearing his life vest, but that actually made it worse, he wasn’t able to get out from underneath the raft and he was totally submerged by it.  After what seemed hours – probably a minute at most, he was finally able to free himself.  He made it to shore where he lay gasping for breath.  It was very close.

I asked him when it occurred; it was the exact time that his name was brought up in my mind.  While I didn’t know he needed prayer the Holy Spirit did. 

Since that time, whenever a name or a need randomly pops into my head I realize it is the Holy Spirit telling me to pray.  Most of the time it is but a minute or two, but the burden has gone on for much longer than that and I am not to stop until it is lifted.

Romans 15:30 Now I beseech you, brethren, for the Lord Jesus Christ's sake, and for the love of the Spirit, that ye strive together with me in your prayers to God for me;

James 5:13-14 Is any among you afflicted? let him pray. Is any merry? let him sing psalms.

¹⁴ Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord:

I don’t know about you, but many times I neglect to ask for prayers for my physical and spiritual well-being.  I know many of you that read these, do pray, but I think there is a need from within a person to ask for prayers.

Until I started writing these on a daily basis I pretty much kept my needs to myself, it was no one else’s business or concern.  I was wrong. 

As Christians we need to share our struggles with each other.  I have found that many people who read these have experienced similar circumstances and overcame them – giving encouragement to me that God is there for me. 

Others have commented that they have similar struggles but were afraid to address them, or didn’t know how.  My posts have helped them come to terms with their circumstances and pray for relief.

1 Corinthians 14:15  What is it then? I will pray with the spirit, and I will pray with the understanding also: I will sing with the spirit, and I will sing with the understanding also.

I am a firm believer in the infilling of the Holy Spirit and praying in another language – one I do not know, but is given me by His Spirit.  However, while I have that prayer life, I am reminded that it is basically a personal prayer as directed by the Spirit.  Often I do not know what the prayer is, but I know that it is led by His Spirit. 

When done in the congregation we must take great care to be sure it is to be given to the congregation and that there is an interpretation.  It is a heart pounding experience to be given a message that way and sometimes we are so fearful that we do not give it.  However, if of the Holy Spirit there will be an interpretation, either by the giver, or another person in the congregation. 

I have found that others have been given a similar interpretation, but I was the one God wanted to speak it – I have had members confirm that God was speaking to them in a similar way.

1 Ephesians 1:16-17 Cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers;

¹⁷ That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him:

It is important that we pray for others.  It is important that we take their spiritual welfare seriously and pray that they will grow in Christ as well as in wisdom.  There are other reasons, of course, but when we pray for their spiritual wellbeing we are striving to assist them in their personal development with Him.

Philippians 4:6 Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.

2 Thessalonians 3:1-2 Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.

God is concerned about every facet of our life.  When we hurt, when we worry, when we are scared we will often quickly come to Him for aid.  However, if we are dedicated to pray to Him, we can ask Him about anything – sometimes we are confronted with something that needs to be done immediately and we have but little time to ask Him to guide us – I have had that happen to me many times as a Police Officer – He honors those prayers.

But most of the time we have time to seek His guidance.  He doesn’t care if our concerns are minor or major, He is there for us.  He is not too busy to be there for us.

2 Timothy 4:16 At my first answer no man stood with me, but all men forsook me: I pray God that it may not be laid to their charge.

This is probably the hardest prayer to pray – forgiving someone else that has turned their back on us, a close friend or relative that has betrayed our trust and placed us in a vulnerable position. 

While we have stood our ground for Christ or for a just cause, they either fled for fear of injury or persecution of self, or undermined us with gossip, lies or innuendos. 

It is far easier to forgive a person that you do not know, even if they were violent toward you, than to pray for a person you have trusted only to find they betrayed you.  Yet both must be forgiven by us and prayed for – only God can give us that kind of forgiveness. 

Prayer is an important part of our Christian experience.  We too often deal with it flippantly, not concentrating or even really thinking about what we are praying.  We pray because we know it is important, but we do not actually make it a serious commitment to God.  As He has told us, we must not pray in repetitious words or simply to be heard, we must focus on Him, not trying to impress others, but only talking with Him.

Praying is not just saying words, it is actually conversing with God as we would another close friend.  As we would a friend we can confide in Him, rejoice with Him, ask Him to do things no one else would do for us.  As we tell a special friend of our fears, concerns, our hopes, dreams and accomplishments, He is there for us to listen and rejoice with us.

We have such a wonderful opportunity to have direct access to God on everything we do, every minute of the day, day in and day out.  What a magnificent God we have!

Later,

From the ColumbiaRiverGorgeous
May Our Good Lord Bless and Keep YOU....’til we meet again

My thoughts, this morning, was to have a dinner of pancakes, bacon and eggs.  We received a call from Carla’s Boss, Brenda; she had a couple of goose eggs to give her.  So instead of having a couple of chicken eggs we shared ‘one’ goose egg.  I couldn’t tell the difference and neither could Carla.  ‘course it was about the size of a hardball elongated, and therefore a lot more on the plate – as a matter of fact it took up the whole 10 inch plate.

Overcast and a bit cooler today, but just right for working in the garden, where Carla spent most of the day.  I had to go in for lab work and we ran a couple errands and then she was outside playing in the dirt.

Supposed to have some snow on the mountains tonight and tomorrow, it looks like we might have some much needed moisture too, we shall see – not sure the snow levels are going to be even close to normal this ‘winter.’ 

Last year winter came later, but it was here by this date, not so much this year.  Now if we could just transport New England and Mid-west snow here..........

Got a few things done around the house, although you can’t tell the difference.  Spent a half hour on the phone trying to get the doctor’s bill taken care of.

It was the ER doctor – those docs have a separate contract and are billed separately from the hospital.  However, even though the hospital has ALL pertinent info, somehow the doc’s billing service didn’t get the right information.  Once I got through, “your call is important to us, please hold the line and our next available service representative will assist you” it only took a few minutes with the clerk to get it ironed out – I hope.

James 5:15-7 And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him.

¹⁶ Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.

¹⁷ Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain: and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months.

Mathew 5:44 But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;

Prayer is an expectation of God for us.  It is mentioned hundreds of times in His Word.  It is the way we communicate with Him and it is how He can see we are determined to serve Him and/or present our needs to Him. 

If we are not concerned enough to pray to Him, why should He be concerned with the outcome?

He knows what we need and what is needed by those we pray for, He wants to provide those things to us and them, but He also expects us to ask Him – and to be persistent if necessary.  We just have to understand it isn’t a list of ‘it would be nice to have’ we should be praying for, but needs to assist us or others in living a life dedicated to Him.

We are told there are ways and reasons for our prayers to Him, He EXPECTS us to ask Him and to pray for others while prayer is mentioned hundreds of times I have listed just a few:

Mathew 6:6-8  But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.

⁷ But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking.

⁸ Be not ye therefore like unto them: for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him.

Be specific.  Don’t try and impress others with your praying ability.  Be sincere.

Mathew 9:38 Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth labourers into his harvest.

Pray for people to help spread His Gospel.  Pray that the Holy Spirit with work on the hearts of men to serve God in a way that will proclaim His love for man and glorify Him.

Mark 9:29 And he said unto them, This kind can come forth by nothing, but by prayer and fasting.

Understand that some issues require us to sacrifice our time and even our nourishment to demonstrate our desire to have the needs met.

Mark 11:24-25 Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.

²⁵ And when ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have ought against any: that your Father also which is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses.

We don’t just pray as a satisfaction to obey a command to pray, we pray from the heart.  We must believe that what we asked will be heard by God.  We do know that God does answer prayer, it may not be done in our timing, or desire, but He is going to answer a fervent prayer.

He also conditions His answers on our dealings with others, are we expecting something from God that we are unwilling to give to others?

Mark 13:33 Take ye heed, watch and pray: for ye know not when the time is.

We need to be in a continual prayer, to watch for not only His return, but to be able to pray for others.

Mark 14:35-36 And he went forward a little, and fell on the ground, and prayed that, if it were possible, the hour might pass from him.

³⁶ And he said, Abba, Father, all things are possible unto thee; take away this cup from me: nevertheless not what I will, but what thou wilt.

There will be times God wants us to do something and it can be fearful for us – it might place us in danger.  As Jesus asked to be relieved from that duty, so can we ask in prayer – However, we need to do what HE wants regardless of what we may want to do.

Acts 9:40  But Peter put them all forth, and kneeled down, and prayed; and turning him to the body said, Tabitha, arise. And she opened her eyes: and when she saw Peter, she sat up.

We need to pray for others that God will heal them and we can expect to see miracles when we pray.

Luke 32:22 But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren.

We also need to pray for the spiritual lives of people not just their physical needs.

Acts 8:14-16  Now when the apostles which were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent unto them Peter and John:

¹⁵ Who, when they were come down, prayed for them, that they might receive the Holy Ghost:

¹⁶ (For as yet he was fallen upon none of them: only they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.)

We need to pray that we receive the Baptism of the Holy Spirit and that others do also.

Acts 18:21-22 Thou hast neither part nor lot in this matter: for thy heart is not right in the sight of God.

²² Repent therefore of this thy wickedness, and pray God, if perhaps the thought of thine heart may be forgiven thee.

We need to make sure our heart is right with God and the reason we are praying to Him is out of a righteous need and desire to see ourselves and others draw closer to Him. 

Acts 12:5 Peter therefore was kept in prison: but prayer was made without ceasing of the church unto God for him.

We need to pray for them that are in grave danger and circumstances that God will intervene in their behalf.

There are of course many other reasons to pray and manner in which we pray, I will address a few more in my post tomorrow.

I am finding this particular study very interesting.  There is really nothing I haven’t already been told by Pastors preaching, teachers teaching and prior readings, but I feel a special need, right now to recommit myself to prayer.

Later,

From the ColumbiaRiverGorgeous
May Our Good Lord Bless and Keep YOU....’til we meet again

Last night below freezing, today, a warm wind descended upon us and we reached 66 degrees.

Carla has several varieties of seeds planted in readiness for this spring to plant.  Just not sure when this spring is actually going to be.......

Unless I have complications over the next surgery, I will be going in for the ablation process on the 24^th of April.  I guess they keep me over night.  Deed will be taking us so we don’t have to drive in – hate that Portland traffic, and OHSU can be an exciting adventure to drive to.....

By getting it done at this time I am hoping I will be back on my feet and more productive this summer.  Lots to get done.

1 Samuel 15:21-23   But the people took of the spoil, sheep and oxen, the chief of the things which should have been utterly destroyed, to sacrifice unto the Lord thy God in Gilgal.

²² And Samuel said, Hath the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams.

²³ For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because thou hast rejected the word of the Lord, he hath also rejected thee from being king.

As we know the sacrifices to God in the Old Testament were mandatory.  They were not done because God needed them done; they were done in obedience to His Word.  They were done to show that obedience.

Each offering had specific requirements; failure to present the sacrifice to God in disobedience of those requirements was sin.  But God wanted more than the sacrifice, He wanted them to come to Him with a heart of love and humility.  It wasn’t just bringing something to the priests to take care of it was a process of the heart as well – a heart focused on God.

Going through the motions, but not doing so with a heart that is full of love for Him with a sincere desire to serve Him was an abomination.  As He said here:  “Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams.”

Jeremiah 29:11-13  For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.

¹² Then shall ye call upon me, and ye shall go and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto you.

¹³ And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.

God loves us and wants the best for us.  If we desire to serve Him, if we open up our hearts to Him He will be there for us.  Any sacrifice we make today should be made with a heart that is not considering it a sacrifice, but a love offering to God to do His Will.

1 Corinthians 5:7 Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us:

We do not have animal sacrifices to God, because Jesus is our sacrifice.  Once we have accepted Him as our Savior instead of bringing an animal to the altar to be processed by the Priest, we bring Jesus to the altar and lay Him down, directly, before God.

As the Jews had to offer their sacrifices with a heart open to God, so too must we offer Jesus with a heart open to God.  We need to approach with the understanding of Who He is and come humbly before Him.  Then we need to continue in that humility obeying and honoring Him; in service to Him and in obedience to Him.  Our service to Him is our way of showing we have honored Christ sacrifice that we have used for our freedom.

Romans 12:1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.

This is not just a verbal exercise, but we must have a clean heart and clear mind willfully serving God.  While He will continue to forgive us when we sin, we want to do the best that we can to not sin – focusing on the reason for Jesus sacrifice and what that means to us as an individual is paramount to understanding how we should be willing to serve Him.

Later, Art :-)

From the ColumbiaRiverGorgeous
May Our Good Lord Bless and Keep YOU....’til we meet again