SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 11/14/2019 10:20 AM
My Worship Time Focus: The Objects
of Prayer
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Ephesians
6:18
Message of the
verse: “18
With all prayer and petition pray at all times in the Spirit, and with this in
view, be on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints,”
Notice the highlighted part of verse
18, showing us that as believers we are to pray for believers. In other places from Paul’s writings we are
commanded to pray for unbelievers, for government leaders, and for others, but
as stated here it is for believers. It
is only the believers who are involved in the spiritual warfare, as unbelievers
cannot be involved in spiritual warfare for they are not believers. We can see that the armor of God is only for
believers to put on, wear, and use in the spiritual warfare that we go through.
John MacArthur writes “It is not
inappropriate to pray for ourselves any more than it is inappropriate to pray
for physical needs. But just as the
Bible primarily calls us to pray about spiritual needs rather than physical, it
primarily calls us to pray for others rather ourselves. Even when he was concerned about his own
needs, Paul does not mention that he prayed for himself but that he asked other
believers to pray on his behalf, as he does in the next two verses (Eph.
6:19-20). The greatest thing we can do
for another believer, or that he can do for us is to pray. That is the thing we can do for another
believer, or that he can do for us, is to pray.
That is the way the Body of Christ grows spiritually as well as in
love. When one member of the Body is
weak, wounded, or cannot function, the other members compensate by supporting
and helping strengthen it. Samuel said
to the people of Israel, ‘Far be it from me that I should sin against the Lord
by ceasing to pray for you’ (1 Sam. 12:23).
With God’s own Holy Spirit to indwell us and help us even when we do not
know how to pray (Rom. 8:26), how much more doe we as Christians sin against
God when we fail to pray for fellow saints?”
I usually use a fairly long prayer
sheet to guide me through my prayers to the Lord. I first start out by asking the Lord to
search my heart to make sure that I have no sins in my life so that I can then
have fellowship with the Lord. Next I
want to praise the Lord for who He is by going over His attributes. I then give myself to the Lord, my body,
mind, and my will. I then get down to
the business of praying for first of all my family beginning with praying for
my wife. I then pray for those on my
list who do not know the Lord. Next I
pray for the pastors in our church, those who led our church. One of the things that I have added to my
prayer list this year is my desire to forsake pride and learn humility. I do have other needs that I pray for but I
desire to pray for others, hoping that other people will pray for my needs as I
pray for theirs.
John MacArthur concludes this last
sub-section with the following: “Praying
for others with sincerity and perseverance is, in God’s immeasurable grace, a
great blessing and strength to our own souls.
D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones reported that before the outbreak of the Spanish
civil war that country was experiencing such an epidemic of neuroses that
psychiatrists could hardly handle them all.
But the war, terrible and destructive as it was in most respects, had
the unexpected effect of ‘curing’ many of Spain’s thousands of neurotics. When they became concerned about the welfare
of their families, friends, and country instead of their own, their neuroses
disappeared and hospitals and clinics were almost emptied of such cases. ‘These neurotic people were suddenly cured by
a greater anxiety,’ and anxiety that reached beyond their own selfish
welfare. (The Christian Soldier [Grand Rapids: Baker, 1977], pp. 357-58.)”
Spiritual
meaning for my life today: I desire
to pray for the issues of other believers so that the Lord will bless my
prayers for them.
My Steps of Faith for Today: Continue to
learn more about humility, and humility means that I care for others even more
than myself.
Today’s
quotation from “Love in Action” comes from what David Jeremiah writes about Job
11:6:
“I think Zophar
gets the award for the most discouraging speech. ‘Job, if you think you’re hurting, you ought
to contemplate just how bad you’d feel if you really got what was coming to
you.’ Job had lost everything. His life had disintegrated, and he has
nothing left but the breath in his mouth.
And Zophar said, ‘Yes, but if you knew how bad you really are, Job, you
wouldn’t be so angry right now. You’re
not even getting all the rotten things you really deserve.’ That’s encouragement?”
11/14/2019 10:59 AM
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