Tag Archives: God

Is My Prayer Good Enough?

Posted on by under Pastor Wrinkles
The crucifix at Kylemore Abbey

The crucifix at Kylemore Abbey

A group of us gather at our church three times a week for an hour of morning prayer. We generally do a brief devotion and then spend about fifteen to twenty minutes in solitary prayer and meditation before coming together for a half an hour of corporate prayer.

This morning in my time of meditation I felt the Spirit of God nudge me with these thoughts which I penned into my journal,  “The Holy Spirit does not rely on your ability to express His manifestation in order to define the boundaries of His manifestation. The power of your prayers does not come from your words, your volume or your emotion. He is able to do as much work whether you pray long or pray short whether you pray soft or pray loud. How you express your prayer does not determine the power released as long as you are praying in line with the Spirit’s desires.”

I think many of us get hung up on whether or not we are “good pray-ers”. But God does not need people who can pray long flowery or loud exciting prayers. He is the God who invented speech and nothing in the way of language surprises Him. Time means little to a God who dwells in eternity so pray as long or as short as you want. Although, time does mean something to the people you are praying with. Remember,  we aren’t in eternity yet so when you pray with people try not to pretend a thousand years are like a day. God’s not deaf nor does He have a nervous condition but the people you are with might have either; So you might want to tailor your volume according to the auditory sensibilities or the nerves of the people around you. I think the way we pray has more to do with whom we are  praying with than whom we are praying to.

God doesn’t need long flowery or loud exciting prayers. But what HE does need is people who will commit to discovering and praying His will. In fact God is most excited when we catch His vision for prayer. Emotional excitement is secondary to Him but what really grabs His heart is when His people pray His Kingdom to come on Earth and His will to be done on Earth as it is in Heaven.

What specific kingdom prayers is God directing you to pray these days?

 

The Point

Posted on by under Pastor Wrinkles
In the shadow of the cross

In the shadow of the cross

15The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 16For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. 17He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. 18And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. 19For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him Col: 1:15-17

I think most humans are born a little attention deprived. We either never come to an understanding of what’s really important or we lose focus on the important things in life. We do get lost in the minutiae thinking it’s the point. In gaining wealth, fame, land comfort, a satisfying job or any other earthly satisfaction we run the risk of missing the real point while trying to maintain the dimensions of our life.

Even as ministers we so often miss the point. We say things like, “The goal is souls.” Or  “It’s all about winning souls.” Now I think souls are important. Evangelism and discipleship are way up there on my to do list. But I am learning that I can get everything on my to do list done and still miss the point. Souls are not the point. Ministry is not the point. The church is not the point (that does not diminish their importance). Jesus is the point and a personal relationship with Him is the goal. If at the end of my days in this vale of tears I have failed to accomplish that, then I will have truly missed the point.

21“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ 23Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’ Ma. 7:21-23

Let’s keep the main thing the main thing.

Heaven Pt. 163: Soul Secure

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If the Lord had not been on our side—
    let Israel say—
2 if the Lord had not been on our side
    when people attacked us,
3 they would have swallowed us alive
    when their anger flared against us;
4 the flood would have engulfed us,
    the torrent would have swept over us,
5 the raging waters
    would have swept us away.

6 Praise be to the Lord,
    who has not let us be torn by their teeth.
7 We have escaped like a bird
    from the fowler’s snare;
the snare has been broken,
    and we have escaped.
8 Our help is in the name of the Lord,
    the Maker of heaven and earth Psalm 124: 2-8

I once met a man who believed that because he had accepted Jesus as Lord and Savior that  he would never experience death. He actually thought he would live in his fleshly body forever. Of course that was not truth; It was reaaaaallllly  bad theology.

We laugh at such extremism but I have experienced this same  mindset to varying degrees in many Christian brothers and sisters, devout men and women who take the Scriptures and make them say what they want rather than what they mean. Psalm 124 is a case in point. Some would take this Scripture and have it say “Because I know the God who made Heaven and Earth my enemies can never touch me.”

The problem of course is that sometimes the enemy can touch us. Sometimes the enemy can do far more than touch us. Just ask the man who wrote Psalm 24. On another day, in another place he said.

My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

Why are you so far from saving me,

so far from my cries of anguish?

2My God, I cry out by day, but you do not answer,

by night, but I find no rest.b

3Yet you are enthroned as the Holy One;

you are the one Israel praises.c

4In you our ancestors put their trust;

they trusted and you delivered them.

5To you they cried out and were saved;

in you they trusted and were not put to shame.

6But I am a worm and not a man,

scorned by everyone, despised by the people.

7All who see me mock me;

they hurl insults, shaking their heads.

8“He trusts in the Lord,” they say,

“let the Lord rescue him.

Let him deliver him,

since he delights in him.”

9Yet you brought me out of the womb;

you made me trust in you, even at my mother’s breast.

10From birth I was cast on you;

from my mother’s womb you have been my God.

11Do not be far from me,

for trouble is near

and there is no one to help.

12Many bulls surround me;

strong bulls of Bashan encircle me.

13Roaring lions that tear their prey

open their mouths wide against me.

14I am poured out like water,

and all my bones are out of joint.

My heart has turned to wax;

it has melted within me.

15My mouthd is dried up like a potsherd,

and my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth;

you lay me in the dust of death.

16Dogs surround me,

a pack of villains encircles me;

they piercee my hands and my feet. Psalm 22: 1-16 NIV

I know this is a prophetic Scripture about Jesus but it was also written out of the very real experiences of David’s life on the lam (no pun intended). So what happened to escaping from the fowler’s snare? What happened to God’s help? Well it was there all the time. Help just didn’t look like David wanted it to look at that particular moment.

God doesn’t promise to always spare us from trouble. In fact, Jesus said, “In this world you will have trouble” John 16. Heaven isn’t Earth and Earth isn’t Heaven, so let’s stop pretending they are the same.

Even in Psalm 124 God doesn’t promise that we would always escape from bodily harm, although in the NIV that looks to be what He is saying. The truth that is actually being taught though is,” our souls escape from the fowler’s snare” 124:7. (nephesh malat- souls escape)

Even when the enemy has the power to touch our physical realities, he has no power to touch our souls, because our lives are hid with God in Christ according to the Apostle Paul. Child of God, there is a place in the anointing which brings us blessing beyond the curse so that we can say with Paul, “We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; 9persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. ” 2 Cor. 4:8,9

If it feels like you are under attack today and that you are trapped between the devil and the deep blue sea with no good way out, take heart. The devil may have a hold on you for now but his grip is slipping and he has no power whatever to capture your soul. The real you inside is safe in God’s hands and shall be so as God’s plans for your life are fulfilled. Your life cannot be touched by anything in this reality. The battle of the moment may go to Satan but the victory of forever belongs to you!

Heaven Pt. 162: Bigger Than

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Thunderheads over the Lower Lake, Killarney

Thunderheads over the Lower Lake, Killarney

I lift up my eyes to the mountains—
    where does my help come from?
2 My help comes from the Lord,
    the Maker of heaven and earth. Psalm 121:1,2

Have you ever climbed a mountain? I have. What I can’t believe about mountain climbing is that there are people who actually do it for fun. I remember climbing this one mountain ( I remember it because it was the only mountain I ever climbed). I remember looking up to see the peak. I remember making my way up the steep thigh-killing trail, my breath tearing out of my lungs in great gasps.

I kept saying to myself “just a little further and you will have made it. The top is right around the corner!”

I remember coming out of the trees on that summit only to discover that what I thought was the top was just an outcrop masking the view of the real peak which was some half mile up in the distance. I think I wept.

Mountains are like that: tricky, turn-coat, hiding their bigness in the clouds and aiming to steal your joy at every turn of the path (sorry mountain climbing lovers I just calls ’em likes I sees ’em). The truth is if we keep our eyes on the mountains we will lose hope pretty quickly. Honestly, if you’re looking at the mountain and it seems to big for you to climb you’re only seeing the half of it. The real mountain is worse than you know.

But there is HOPE. You won’t find it looking at the mountain though. Hope is found in the Lord. He’s the maker of Heaven and Earth and He is bigger even than your mountain. Never forget to factor God in on your mountain climbs. He’s the greatest asset you have and He is the only reason you are going to make it up and over whatever mountain stands in your way. As Scripture says, “It is God who arms me with strength
    and keeps my way secure.
33 He makes my feet like the feet of a deer;
    he causes me to stand on the heights Psalm 18:32,33

If God should think the mountain is to big for you to climb He will help you move it straight out of the way. “Truly I tell you, if anyone says to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and does not doubt in their heart but believes that what they say will happen, it will be done for them. 24Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours” Mark 11:23,24

Let me encourage you, stop looking at the mountain. Start looking at the God who is bigger than…

The Heaven posts are a devotional study through the Bible using the word “Heaven”. To find other Heaven posts go to my Pastor Wrinkles page above and click on the “Heaven posts” drop down.