Shared from my Homework
(With every assignment each week we have to write out a 'Personal Application' about what we have learned from the Bible that week and how we intend to apply to our lives. I wanted to share this one after we had completed the Book of Luke.)
Okay! Okay! I get it! Prayer! Yes! I know! I’ve always known! Just because I’ve been fighting against it doesn’t mean I haven’t always known! I get it! Sheesh!
So I’m supposed to be a Prayer Warrior. I always have been. I’ve fought against it. Believe me I have fought against it. And then, when I gave my heart back to the Lord He began stirring up that longing again. But it’s kinda hard to go back to all that when it’s all ‘old news.’ I know all about the whole prayer thing. My mom had a ‘hot line to Heaven’ as many people would say. I saw some pretty astounding miracles because of her prayers too. I’ve seen some pretty astounding things come out of a lot of people’s prayers. …Including my own recently.
It’s really not a coincidence that I missed doing Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Isaiah, and Jeremiah months ago. It is not chance that I ended up doing them right in between Matthew and Luke. I first began with Matthew which places a heavy emphasis on ‘the Kingdom of God.’ Then I go back to pre-exilic Israel. All of these prophets put great emphasis on prayer –especially Habakkuk. And then I step into the writings of Luke who emphasizes prayer in his writings. Now, having completed the rest of the prophet books and beginning the New Testament, more and more I’m beginning to see the powerful directions and guidance the Lord gives us for prayer and fasting. In the hospital, when I couldn’t even focus on putting more than a few words together in my mind, I struggled to be able to pray. Even after I came out it was extremely difficult to comprehend the Words of the Bible or how to pray. It wasn’t until the night I prayed with Brodie and Bonnie, and then the next night with Hannah and Jesse, that I was able to start comprehending things better and was able to pray well again. I needed help to pray. And it has really been during the weeks that followed, praying with others as well as by myself, that I’ve began to experience the power of prayer. Now, I realize more and more that He is ‘loudly’ calling me to start fasting as well.
It doesn’t take intelligence to figure out that, if the people had turned away from Yahweh, prayer wasn’t a big part of the people’s hearts. When we stop praying, we stop acknowledging Who God is. When we stop acknowledging Who God is our lives (and our world) fall apart. Habakkuk saw this, and Luke recognized this. A world forsaking prayer is a fallen world. Prayer and Sacrifice stops. Repentance is gone. Love is gone. Justice is gone. I think it must be in that order too. We have to keep our hearts turned to the Lord in prayer and fasting. We have to turn to Him with a repentant heart and He will put His love in us, and that love will preserve justice throughout the land –and in our hearts. Then we can all start expecting to hear from the Lord. It all starts with a humble heart on a bended knee.
Okay! Okay! I get it! Prayer! Yes! I know! I’ve always known! Just because I’ve been fighting against it doesn’t mean I haven’t always known! I get it! Sheesh!
So I’m supposed to be a Prayer Warrior. I always have been. I’ve fought against it. Believe me I have fought against it. And then, when I gave my heart back to the Lord He began stirring up that longing again. But it’s kinda hard to go back to all that when it’s all ‘old news.’ I know all about the whole prayer thing. My mom had a ‘hot line to Heaven’ as many people would say. I saw some pretty astounding miracles because of her prayers too. I’ve seen some pretty astounding things come out of a lot of people’s prayers. …Including my own recently.
It’s really not a coincidence that I missed doing Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Isaiah, and Jeremiah months ago. It is not chance that I ended up doing them right in between Matthew and Luke. I first began with Matthew which places a heavy emphasis on ‘the Kingdom of God.’ Then I go back to pre-exilic Israel. All of these prophets put great emphasis on prayer –especially Habakkuk. And then I step into the writings of Luke who emphasizes prayer in his writings. Now, having completed the rest of the prophet books and beginning the New Testament, more and more I’m beginning to see the powerful directions and guidance the Lord gives us for prayer and fasting. In the hospital, when I couldn’t even focus on putting more than a few words together in my mind, I struggled to be able to pray. Even after I came out it was extremely difficult to comprehend the Words of the Bible or how to pray. It wasn’t until the night I prayed with Brodie and Bonnie, and then the next night with Hannah and Jesse, that I was able to start comprehending things better and was able to pray well again. I needed help to pray. And it has really been during the weeks that followed, praying with others as well as by myself, that I’ve began to experience the power of prayer. Now, I realize more and more that He is ‘loudly’ calling me to start fasting as well.
It doesn’t take intelligence to figure out that, if the people had turned away from Yahweh, prayer wasn’t a big part of the people’s hearts. When we stop praying, we stop acknowledging Who God is. When we stop acknowledging Who God is our lives (and our world) fall apart. Habakkuk saw this, and Luke recognized this. A world forsaking prayer is a fallen world. Prayer and Sacrifice stops. Repentance is gone. Love is gone. Justice is gone. I think it must be in that order too. We have to keep our hearts turned to the Lord in prayer and fasting. We have to turn to Him with a repentant heart and He will put His love in us, and that love will preserve justice throughout the land –and in our hearts. Then we can all start expecting to hear from the Lord. It all starts with a humble heart on a bended knee.
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