December 2008

11.20.2008

ne Parson’s Opinion
Prayer is one of the means God has ordained to move Heaven to earth.

A verse that teaches this is from the Model Prayer, Matthew 6:10: “Your kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in Heaven.” So, we ask Him. Prayer is simply talking to and asking our Heavenly Father to intervene.

Could God accomplish His will without our prayers? Yes, of course! But He has chosen prayer as a means to bring His will to earth.

So, it is vital that Christians pray! Prayer is not a matter of last resort. Prayer is the activity of the front-line warrior in the kingdom.

Notice how the apostle Paul told the church at Rome that they could be part of his ministry by praying for him: “I urge you, brothers, by our Lord Jesus Christ and by the love of the Spirit, to join me in my struggle by praying to God for me. Pray that I may be rescued from the unbelievers in Judea and that my service in Jerusalem may be acceptable to the saints there.” Romans 15:30-31 (emphasis added).

Last Wednesday night, as we prayed for North Tongass Baptist Church and their new pastor in Ketchikan, Alaska, we-believers many hundreds of miles away joined with them in the work of the ministry in Ketchikan.

Prayer is the ministry!

Revelation 8:1-5 gives us a look at prayer from Heaven’s point of view. Read with awe and wonder, and then pray:

“When he opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour. And I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and to them were given seven trumpets.

Another angel, who had a golden censer, came and stood at the altar. He was given much incense to offer, with the prayers of all the saints, on the golden altar before the throne. The smoke of the incense, together with the prayers of the saints, went up before God from the angel’s hand. Then the angel took the censer, filled it with fire from the altar, and hurled it on the earth; and there came peals of thunder, rumblings, flashes of lightning and an earthquake.”

See you on the Lord’s Day!
Jim

Posted by arbc at 09:52 PM