Effective and Fervent Prayer

Effective and Fervent Prayer

Psalm 5:3 NKJV

My voice You shall hear in the morning, O LORD;
In the morning I will direct it to You, And I will look up. 

James 5 16b NJKJ

The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.

   If you desire to be effective in your Christian life, you must spend time in prayer.  And not the “Dear Santa” type prayers, but “from the heart” prayers, the consistent, daily prayers where you put some thought into them.  Much of my young Christian life I put little thought or effort into praying.  I probably hold the record in a few churches for the shortest prayers offered during prayer meetings.  I would rush through the prayer because praying was the “thing to do” in prayer meetings and I felt obligated.  But as I grew in my relationship with the Lord I felt that cheap prayers were inappropriate and would not pray if I didn’t feel like I could offer a “good” prayer.  I knew something was wrong, but not really sure what.

   We need to put effort into praying and put thought into what we pray.  We’re talking to God Almighty, Lord of Heaven and earth.  I often talked to pastors and other elders in church about prayer, and got a lot of advice – not all of it made sense.  It was a real blessing when I first undertook a study on prayer from the Bible.  I learned that the only way to pray prayers that are effective and powerful is to pray as though prayer were the most important activity in your life.

   In the verse from Psalms, David uses the Hebrew word 'arak meaning "direct."  He was saying he would direct his petitions to God daily.  'Arak is used in other parts of the Old Testament.  Moses uses it in reference to the priests "setting in order" the sacrifices to be brought before the Lord each day (Exodus 40:4).  Joshua uses it to describe an army being "set in array" in preparation for battle (Judges 20:20-22).  David is declaring here that he had a plan for his prayers and he brought his thoughts in order and he was prepared for the prayer before he began it. 

   It sounds hard and tedious to think about your prayer before you actually pray, but praying should not be a burden.  Praying should be a joy!  Our Heavenly Father loves to hear from us and as we grow in Him we will find ourselves wanted to talk to Him.        

   The verse in James requires two English words to translate the Greek word Energeo - effective and fervent.  These are two positive and powerful words.  James describes a prayer that is not selfish nor is it just an emotional plea.  This prayer is passionate and is prayed with confidence that God hears our prayers and He has the ability to answer our prayers.  It is belief that God’s Hand is moved by the prayers of His children.

   As you pray today, pray believing He hears you.  Our prayers work!  In my life I have seen many answers received and many blessings fall on people in need.  I have seen sinners come to the Kingdom, sinners you would never have thought could possibly be saved, and I know they had saints praying for them behind the scenes.  These were saints who determined to pray and keep praying until something happened.  

   So much in your life and the lives of those you intercede for depend on your prayers and you will only see the Hand of God moving when you spend time in prayer.  So when you pray, pray expecting to see an answer.

Stephen Cram                     September 25, 2011             Colossians 2:8

Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ.  Colossians 2:8 

Your Permanent Record

Your Permanent Record

Revelation 20: 11&12

11 Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. Earth and sky fled from his presence, and there was no place for them.

12 And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books.

   When I was in school, there was something you were constantly warned about.  If you were bad or did something really wrong, a report would be sent to the Principal's office and placed in your PERMANENT RECORD!  Nothing more needed to be said.  Your Permanent Record was filed in the Principal's office, and it put the fear of GOD in your heart!  You had never seen your Permanent Record, but that didn't matter.  You knew it was there.  The threat was enough to make you think twice.  You had a picture in your mind of rows of steel filing cabinets with the Permanent Records of every student who went to the school and everyone who had ever gone to that school filed in them. 

   You also knew that a copy of your Permanent Record would go to college if you went on to one and would follow you to your first job and every job after that one as well.  You mistakes would never be forgotten, they would be there for everyone to read about.  Any time some teacher or boss wanted to know if you had ever done anything really stupid or just plain mean they could go to your file and read all about it.

   OK, stop laughing!  It wasn’t funny!  Your Permanent Record was a real threat and a genuine cause of worry for us!  You didn’t want everyone you met the rest of your life to know about your mistakes.

   I have a terrible feeling that my generation may have been the last one to believe in the Permanent Record.  It has disappeared from society.  There was time when people stopped before they did something deceitful, unethical or immoral.  They didn't stop because they were especially holy, but because they believed that if they did the deed it would end up in a permanent record.  You believed that someone would find out about it.  You believed that nothing would remain a secret forever.

   People have come to realize that there is no permanent record and they can do these wicked things and often get away with it.  No one would know if they were clever enough, or if they found out you could give a valid excuse.  Your upbringing was bad or your parents were separated or you were poor.  There are dozens of excuses people use to validate their bad behavior, as long as they don’t have to take responsibility themselves.  You can offer some excuse like "it was a crazy time in my life" and be forgiven for anything. 

   The things people used to be ashamed of are now laughed at in comedy clubs.  The things people used to be ashamed of now have Congressional lobbies protecting them.  If the things were unusual enough, the person can even make a lot of money by writing a book about it.  They would become "interesting" people at parties. 

   Talk shows are filled with guests bragging about the wicked things they do.  People are thanked for being "honest" with the audience who gasp and applaud at the appropriate times. 

   Yes, people figured out that there never had been a Permanent Record to follow you through life.  Today, we have accepted the fact that no one is keeping track.  No one is even allowed to keep track, it's a violation of our Constitutional rights.  We look back on the idea of the Permanent Record with a nostalgic feeling and smile because we were so naïve to believe in one. 

   But…

   I am a little old-fashioned.  I believe that on some future day, when we check out of our earthly lives, we will find ourselves standing in a long line.  As we look around, our self-righteous smile will freeze on our face.  Here we stand at the head of the line and an angelic being will call us forward.  We will step forward and stand, all alone, before a Glorious Heavenly Figure seated on a Great Throne.  Another angelic being will be standing off to one side with some books.  This angelic being will open up a book with our name on it.  He'll begin leafing through our PERMANENT RECORD.  Will the words of that book be covered by the Blood of Jesus?  Or will the words still be there for all to see.  

Stephen Cram                         September 18, 2011                        Colossians 2:8

Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ.  Colossians 2:8 

                                

What is that in your hand?

What is that in your hand?

Exodus 4: 1&2
1 Then Moses answered and said, "But suppose they will not believe me or listen to my voice; suppose they say, "The LORD has not appeared to you."'
2 So the LORD said to him, "What is that in your hand?"  He said, "A rod."

   So many people in life focus on what they can’t do, and spend their lives frustrated and feeling like failures.  They’re too timid or too lazy to actually try to step outside their comfort zone and do something.  It’s so much easier to say, “I can’t” rather then, “I’ll do it.”
   Statues aren’t raised to quitters.  Heroes are not the ones who stand on the sidelines and fidget.  Successful people are the ones who not only work hard, but are willing to try to do something more.
   When God needed to send someone to deliver His people from bondage in Egypt, He sent Moses.  Moses was well trained and well educated but really didn’t want to step out in front and lead anyone.
   First Moses used an excuse, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh, and that I should bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?”   But God told him, “I will be with you.”  Next Moses said the people would want confirmation of God to be sure it was really Him.  So God gives him a name, “I Am That I Am.”  The Moses tried to back out on God again by saying, “But suppose they will not believe me or listen to my voice; suppose they say, ‘The LORD has not appeared to you.’”  Then God asked a simple question, “What is that in your hand?”
   I have a good imagination and I see Moses looking at the simple wooden rod he carried and his brow probably wrinkled in thought.  The plain shepherd’s rod he had carried for years was just an ordinary stick.  Why would God be interested in an ordinary stick?  The better question was why God was interested in an ordinary man?
   Moses was about to discover that ordinary things become extraordinary when used for God’s glory.  That stick that Moses carried became a supernatural stick, and it even acquired a reputation.  It became known as the rod of God.  (Exodus 4:20)
   You know the rest of the story.  That rod found use again and again.  It became a snake and consumed the rods of Pharaoh’s wizards.  It was raised over the Nile River and wondrous things happened.  It was held high in the air and the Red Sea parted to let them pass on dry land.  It struck a rock and water gushed out.  It was used to perform many miracles.  An ordinary stick used in God’s service.
   When Jesus fed the thousands who were listening to Him preach, He used some an ordinary kid’s lunch containing ordinary bread and some ordinary fish.  But Jesus used them and they became extraordinary bread and extraordinary fish.  Those thousands were fed and there was plenty left over.
   The ordinary things that God has placed in our hands become extraordinary when we surrender them to His will.  “I don’t have much to offer,” you say?  Maybe you have little money, little time, little talents, few possessions and few friends.  But take what you have and surrender them to His will, and give Him the opportunity to use these ordinary things to meet needs and give glory to God.
      So, what do YOU have in your hand?

Stephen Cram                           September 11, 2011                     Colossians 2:8

Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ.  Colossians 2:8


       

Yes, He Really Means It!

Yes, He Really Means It!

Genesis 12: NKJV
I will bless those who bless you, And I will curse him who curses you;
And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.

Bereishit Chapter 12: 3 Jewish Tanakh
And I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse, and all the families of the earth shall be blessed in you."
ג. וַאֲבָרֲכָה מְבָרְכֶיךָ וּמְקַלֶּלְךָ אָאֹר וְנִבְרְכוּ בְךָ
כֹּל מִשְׁפְּחֹת הָאֲדָמָה

   A couple weeks ago I wrote about a conditional promise from God.  He set the condition of: “IF My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways,” only then would He make good on His promise: “then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.”  This promise hangs on an action on our part.
   In Genesis He gave a promise to Abraham that has no condition attached to it.  I have read and researched this pretty extensively over many years and no one can find a condition that this promise hangs on.  The best way to look at this promise is that God said it, and He really means it, and He’s going to do it.  So what’s this promise really say?
   In my opinion – and I stress this is my opinion, God watches over His people who are the descendants of Abraham and inherit the blessings bestowed on him by God.  I read an article recently about someone trying to make the blessings of Abraham apply to the Arabs who were descendants of Abraham through Ishmael.  But if you read the Biblical account of Abraham, this is not so.  God’s promises and blessings went from Abraham through Isaac and down to the Jewish people, not to the Arabic peoples.  And if that offends you, take it up with God, He wrote the book, I didn’t.
   And this promise is, again in my humble opinion, an important one to learn.  “I will bless them that bless you...” pretty straightforward here.  If you bless Abraham or his descendants, (the Jewish people,) He will bless you.  So if we as individuals or we collectively as a nation bless Israel, God will bless us.  Warning!  Brief history lesson here.  The United States was instrumental in the establishment of the nation of Israel after WW II.  We supported them and were the first to officially recognize them as a nation in 1948.  The history of the US shows how much we were blessed of God during the 50s through the 80’s.  Our support of Israel began to erode after 1988 and we as a nation have sunk into turmoil and degradation unseen in the world since the declining years of the Roman Empire.  Coincidence?  I doubt it.
   Here is where the second half of this promise comes into play.  “I will curse those who curse you.”  Again, pretty straightforward here.  If someone causes harm or withholds help to Abraham or his descendants, the Jewish people, God will bring a curse on them.
   Oh, come now Steve!  Really!  A curse from God - the loving Father Who loves us?  Yes, a curse from God, Himself.  Again, history will confirm this.
   Know someone who’s been to Egypt?  THE power in the known world.  Also known for its high level of knowledge and science.  And they blessed Israel for a season then enslaved them.  When they fell, they fell hard.
   Assyria, who attacked and enslaved the Ten Tribes of Israel, had an empire that stood for about 241 years.  They’re gone as well.
   Babylon’s army marched where it wanted to.  The world leader in culture and science in its time.  Today, Iraq is a poor, hurting nation.
   Persia overthrew Babylon and extended the borders.  They were experts in law and brought their unique government to thousands.  They began by blessing the Jews then turned against them.  Iran is a small country with many problems.  
   Greece conquered the known world and famous as the cradle of democracy and learning.  They, too, began to persecute the Jews and were conquered by a more barbaric people.
   Rome ruled from the Atlantic in the west to the Black Sea in the east and from Britain in the north to the sands of the Sahara desert in the south.  Check out a map and you won’t believe how big an empire they were, all without electricity or cell phones!  And they also cursed Israel.  Today, Rome is broken into dozens of pieces.
   Nazi Germany rose and their manufacturing was the world leader.  They had huge universities in Germany before WW II.  Then Hitler decided to exterminate the Jews.  God exterminated the Nazi leaders and their 1000 year Reich fell in 12 years of blood and destruction.
   The British boasted, “The sun never sets on the British Empire.”  What that meant was that Britain ruled colonies and protectorates around the world.  Today, it is nearly bankrupt and in turmoil and has been nearly overrun by Moslems and the Islamic influence.
   All these great powers have in common the fact they cursed the Jews.  Don’t take my word for it, look up the facts.  See how each treated the Jews, and learn from their example.  “I will bless them that bless you, and will curse them that curse you – and He really means it.
   I don’t think it’s too late for the USA to turn things around, but we are sliding over the edge and on the very brink of disaster.  I urge you to open your eyes to the danger we’re facing.  Turning our national policy against Israel is a poke in the eye of El Elyon, God Most High.  I would say, “God help us” if we do, but of course, He won’t.

  Stephen Cram                               September 4, 2011                 Colossians 2:8

Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ.  Colossians 2:8

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