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 a 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 3-23 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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