SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 10/5/2014 9:12 PM
My Worship Time Focus:
The Resource of Prayer
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: 2
Thessalonians 1:11a
Message of the
verses: “To this end also we pray
for you always.”
In our lessons from both First and Second Thessalonians
we have learned much about prayer, and now in these last two verses of 2
Thessalonians chapter one we will learn more about prayer. I have to say first of all that I believe
that the Lord chose all who will come to salvation in eternity past, and the
Lord Jesus Christ died for all who will be saved, and a person is saved when
the Holy Spirit of God gives them an effectual call that they cannot turn
down. We only have to look at the
disciples that Jesus called to see this along with the call that was given to
Saul of Tarsus when he was on the road to Damascus which is found in the ninth
chapter of the book of Acts. Now as we
look at this one may ask why do people pray to God if God has already called
people to salvation? Well for one thing
God tells us to pray. Now not only is
this true as far as God calling people to salvation, but also true for the
sanctification of people too. In his
commentary on this section John MacArthur gives a number of examples from
Scripture to back up what I have been writing about. We will look at a few of them in our
Spiritual Diary for today.
Paul writes in this portion of verse eleven that he will
pray for the believers of Thessalonica always, and we have learned from former
SD’s that in the beginning of his writings he says that he prays for the people
he is writing to and then at the end he will ask them to pray for him, so many
of his letters are full of prayers and also requests for prayer. Now as we look at this we can truly see the
importance of prayer.
One of my favorite portions of Scripture is Daniel
chapter nine, and the reason is that it was one of the Scriptures used when I
became a believer. Daniel is praying to
the Lord for the children of Israel and in his prayer he speaks to the Lord
about the fact that in the book of Jeremiah that God had promised that He would
have the children of Israel return to their land. Daniel knew that it was very close to this
time, but even though he knew this he prayed to the Lord to make this happen. In verses 3-19 we find this prayer. Daniel confesses not only the sin of the
children of Israel stating that it was right for God to cause them to go into
captivity, but he also prays for the Lord to forgive his sins even though we
find no sins of Daniel mentioned in the Scriptures Daniel knew that he was a
sinner in need of salvation. This is not
the only place in Scripture when a person prays for something that he already
knows will happen because of God already stating that it will happen. In the last book of the Bible John who is the
human author knows that the Lord Jesus Christ will return to planet earth ends
his writings with “come Lord Jesus. Now
we can go to the book of Luke and find that right before the Lord Jesus Christ
is to be crucified that He tells Peter that Satan has asked to sift him like
wheat, and then we see that the Lord Jesus Christ, the God man tells Peter that
He will pray for him. Now if the Lord
Jesus Christ prays for Peter while on earth even though He knew what the outcome
would be then should we not be praying for things that are important to us,
things like the return of Jesus Christ, or the salvation of souls. I can’t say that I understand all of this
when it comes to the sovereignty of God and why He wants us to pray even though
He knows the outcome, but we still should do it so that it will not only
increase our faith, but so that we can participate in what the Lord is doing in
our lives and the lives of those we are praying for.
John MacArthur writes “Not only does prayer align the heart with the sovereign
plan of God, but God also works prayer into bringing about His plan, as James
says: ‘The effective prayer of a
righteous man can accomplish much’ (James 5:16). This is parallel to God’s electing a person
to salvation but using someone’s faithful witness to bring about that
salvation. A striking demonstration of
the interaction between prayer and God’s sovereignty comes from the life of
godly King Hezekiah of Judah. After
being informed by Isaiah the prophet that he would die from his illness (2
Kings 20:1), Hezekiah pleaded with God to spare his life (vv. 2-3). In response, God extended the king’s life
fifteen years (vv. 4-6). Though it was
not necessarily beneficial to the king, God fit it perfectly into His purpose
(vv. 12-17). That incident demonstrates
that a proper understanding of God’s sovereignty does not lead to passive
resignation but to achieve petition, which God may choose to hear and change
the course of events without altering His sovereign purpose. Indeed, the amazing, incomprehensible reality
of such providence is that it was God’s will all along.”
Spiritual meaning
for my life today: I must remember
that even though I don’t understand all that God is doing in my life and the
life of my family, I must continue to trust Him, and continue to pray for God
to work things out for our good and for His glory.
My Steps of Faith for Today: Trust the Lord when I don’t understand
everything He is doing.
Memory verses for the
week: Colossians 1:5-10.
5 Therefore consider the members of your earthly body as
dead to immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed, which amounts to
idolatry. 6 For it is because of these
things that the wrath of God has come upon the sons of disobedience; 7 and in
them you once walked, when you were living in them.
8 But not you also, put them all aside: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and abusive
speech from your mouth. 9 Do not lie to
one another, since you have laid aside the old self with its evil practices, 10
and have put on the new self who is being renewed to a true knowledge according
to the image of the One who created him-
Answer to yesterday’s Bible
question: “At the horse gate by the
kings house” (2 Chronicles 23:15).
Today’s Bible
question: “Who killed a thousand en with
the jawbone of an ass?”
Answer in our next SD.
10/5/2014 10:24 PM
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