Category Archives: Prayer

NEEDS DRIVE US TO OUR KNEES – 2

Prayer,

To recap, in our study of Old Covenant prayer, we learned that “palal” means “to fall down before the one who has authority, to entreat Him to make a judgment so that He will take action to bring about a wonder or a miracle that will restore the person or situation for which he/she pleads to a life that is pleasant and righteous. This wonder will lead to “tefillah”, the purpose of prayer, i.e., the focus on God Himself.”

Why do we “fall down”? Falling down is more than bowing down. It is an act of desperation and recognition, acknowledging both  that God is the only one who can make a judgment and act on it in response to our plea, and humility, acknowledging who we are before Him.

Who is the “authority” before whom we fall?

Jesus revealed that, in the New Covenant, God is our Father. We no longer approach Him as slaves to a Master who requires strict obedience to His rules. We approach God as children to a Father whom we trust because He loves us and has done everything to reconcile us to Himself. He has opened the way into His presence by offering His Son as a sacrifice for our sin.

What is the “judgment” for which we entreat Him?

Since Jesus insisted that the Father knows our needs before we ask Him, and that He meets our needs as we seek His kingdom and His righteousness first, we must determine what His judgments are in relation to “His kingdom and His righteousness”.

The judgments for which we plead, then, relate to His kingdom, i.e., the issues that arise as we follow Jesus and live under His authority, and His righteousness, (generosity), the ways in which we show our love to Him by loving His children. Since these are the only two commandments in the New Covenant…

1 John 3:23 NLT
[23] “And this is his commandment: We must believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and love one another, just as he commanded us.”

…our real needs arise from these two requirements. Needs drive us to seek His judgments and are, therefore, His way of keeping us connected to Him. Our mandate to manage the earth can only happen through continually seeking Him “for a judgment”.

God’s promises are His judgments which take care of every issue that arises in our quest to live “pleasant and righteous lives” as His children in His kingdom.

2 Peter 1:3-4 NLT
[3] “By his divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life. We have received all of this by coming to know him, the one who called us to himself by means of his marvelous glory and excellence. [4] And because of his glory and excellence, he has given us great and precious promises. These are the promises that enable you to share his divine nature and escape the world’s corruption caused by human desires.”

Encapsulated in the work of Jesus is the guarantee that He stands surety for every promise God has ever made.

2 Corinthians 1:20 NLT
[20]”For all of God’s promises have been fulfilled in Christ with a resounding “Yes!” And through Christ, our “Amen” (which means “Yes”) ascends to God for his glory.”

Therefore, God will always provide the wisdom we need to understand and the grace to follow His ways as we continually entreat Him for judgments that enable us to do His will.

What does He restore?

God’s judgments are not about who is innocent and who is guilty. His “judgments” are His decisions about our plea for justice in our cause. He will act to restore the person or situation to a conducive life in His kingdom. Jesus also said that God will restore “speedily” but not according to our timetable. He is always following His own agenda and working on a much bigger canvas than our personal demands. Our faith in Him requires patience and trust.

This explains Jesus’ mystifying question at the end of His story.

Luke 18:8 NIV
[8] “I tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?”

Faith and patience are the key ingredients of our relationship with the Father. These attitudes reveal the level of our submission to God.

Hebrews 6:12 NIV
[12] “We do not want you to become lazy, but to imitate those who through faith and patience inherit what has been promised.”

What is “tefillah”?

We come to the climax of our  consideration of the elements of true prayer…”tefillah”. To understand tefillah, we must view the concept from the perspective of the ancient rabbis.

“Tefillah” is a difficult concept to understand, let alone to explain. This word contains all the elements of prayer but goes beyond these to the heart of God’s intention. An unidentified Rabbi said this about “tefillah”.

“A key element of your relationship with your Creator is to “serve Him with all your heart”. The word serve in Hebrew is “avodah”, which carries the sense of laborious work. But what kind of labour can the heart do to serve G-d? The classic Jewish answer is that this is “tefillah”: a labour of awakening the hidden love within the heart until a state of intimate union with the divine is achieved.

“That’s why the common translation – prayer – is horribly inaccurate. Prayer implies two distinct entities, an inferior one making a request of a superior. There is another Hebrew word for this,” bakashah”. Similarly, worship has a word, “shevach”. “Tefillah” includes both these elements but, in itself neither of them. Instead, communion may be a better word – defined as a joining together of mind and spirit.”

Then he makes this observation:

…” You can’t commune with someone you don’t know, so knowing G-d is an integral part of “tefillah”.”

To conclude, the same rabbi said this:

“1. Speaking the words out loud helps focus your attention.
2. A human being is principally a speaking being. Tefillah brings the speakingness of that being closer to G-d. If you lift your heart and mind but leave behind your words, you’ve effectively left behind the human being… “

He comes to the conclusion:

“… The core of “tefillah”, on the other hand, is our mode of reaching deeper and yet deeper into our inner thoughts, and finding within them G-d Himself.”

(From the article, http://wwwchabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/1452805/jewish/Tefillah.htm-retrieved March 2016)

Let me summarise.

” Tefillah” happens when we fall down to entreat the Judge for a judgment and He responds with a judgment and a miracle that causes us to wonder.

Needs, then, are the trigger that makes this process of true prayer happen.

Can you see, then, that unless “tefillah” happens, the purpose of prayer is unfilled and the circle of prayer is incomplete? “Tefillah” encompasses all the elements of prayer but comes to completion in the joining of heart, mind, and spirit with God in the intimacy of loving communion.

As urgent or important as we may consider the matters are for which we pray, they cannot override or supersede the most important purpose for prayer – that of deep heart adoration and worship.

(The material for this and the previous article are taken from “Designer Prayer”, Copyright © 2017, by Luella Campbell).

And so, once again, the hymn writer expresses in beautiful poetry, our desire to rise to the passion of the the Father’s heart for communion with His sons and daughters.

1. Love divine, all loves excelling,
Joy of Heav’n to Earth come down,
Fix in us thy humble dwelling,
All thy faithful mercies crown;
Jesus, thou art all compassion,
Pure, unbounded love thou art;
Visit us with thy salvation,
Enter ev’ry trembling heart.

2. Breathe, O breathe thy loving Spirit
Into ev’ry troubled breast;
Let us all in thee inherit,
Let us find thy promised rest;
Take away our love of sinning;
Alpha and Omega be;
End of faith as its beginning,
Set our hearts at liberty.

3. Come, Almighty to deliver;
Let us all thy grace receive;
Suddenly return, and never,
Never more thy temples leave.
Thee we would be always blessing,
Serve thee as thy host above,
Pray, and praise thee without ceasing,
Glory in thy perfect love.

4. Finish, then, thy new creation;
Pure and spotless let us be;
Let us see thy great salvation
Perfectly restored in thee;
Changed from glory into glory
Till in Heav’n we take our place,
Till we cast our crowns before thee,
Lost in wonder, love, and praise!

Source: Hymns and Devotions for Daily Worship #366a

Author: Charles Wesley (b. 1707,

NEEDS DRIVE US TO OUR KNEES – 1

Prayer, ,

The Old Testament language, originally paleo Hebrew, fascinates me. Paleo Hebrew is a picture language possibly developed from the ancient Phoenician script. The alphabet of paleo Hebrew has 22 picture letters, each letter a picture  conveying an idea the meaning of which is derived from the context. Paleo Hebrew words were usually made up of two pictures, called the parent root, to which more pictures were added to expand its meaning.

The ancient Hebrews were essentially tactile people. They thought, spoke and wrote in  concrete terms, not in abstract ideas. To understand their language and usage, we must distance ourselves from Western abstract expression and view life from their experience of the physical world. In other words, they thought function, not form, that is, what did an object do rather than what did an object look like.

The word, God, for example, was two letters, e and l, “El”. Read from right to left, these two letters, aleph…an ox head, and lamed… a shepherd’s staff, imply strength and authority, hence God was the one who had strength and authority.

I will use this concept to help us understand the meaning of prayer in the Old Covenant.

To cut a very long story short, one of the words for prayer, p, meaning ” mouth”, and l, meaning “a shepherd’s staff”, is “palal”, which implies speaking to the one who has authority.

“This word “palal” also means judgment. In Old Testament times the major judicial decisions were made at the gates and entrance to the city, one reason being it was a broad area and easy for people to gather there. If anyone had a grievance, they would go and “speak to authority” to obtain the justice they were looking for. The ancient Hebrew concept of a “judge” is one who restores life. The goal of one that judges or rules is to bring a pleasant and righteous life to the people….”
https://www.ancient-hebrew.org
article: Ancient Hebrew Words for Prayer

Implied in this word, “palal”, is the idea of “falling down in desperation to address the one who has authority.”

“Another word from the PL root is “pala”. Added to this root is the letter “aleph” which in its original picture form is an ox head meaning “strength”. This word  means “perform” i.e. a great work (performed) as an act of intercession (out of a judgement). It is translated “wonder”, “marvellous”, and “extraordinary” . “Pala” is used primarily with God as its subject, expressing actions that “.. and in our eyes it is amazing! ” Psalm 118:23…

“This certainly lifts our faith to new heights of trust in God for awesome things when we pray.”
https://www.ancient-hebrew.org
article: Ancient Hebrew Words for Prayer

When we put “palal” and “pala” into the context of a sentence, prayer means “to fall down in desperation before the one who has the authority, to entreat the judge for a judgment. He will take action through a “wonderwork” to restore the pray-er to a life that is pleasant and righteous. This will result in wonder and admiration, “and in our eyes it is amazing! ” Psalm 118:23…

The judge’s verdict had to go on to an action which carried out the judgment determined by the pleading. This would result in justice for the one who brought the plea. The judge had the power to do a miracle or wonderwork, something extraordinary that would restore the person to a pleasant and righteous life. This will cause the one who prayed to marvel at the judge.

Now let’s look at the way Jesus used this concept of prayer in a story.

Luke 18:1-5 NLT
[1] “One day Jesus told his disciples a story to show that they should always pray and never give up. [2] “There was a judge in a certain city,” he said, “who neither feared God nor cared about people. [3] A widow of that city came to him repeatedly, saying, ‘Give me justice in this dispute with my enemy.’ [4] The judge ignored her for a while, but finally he said to himself, ‘I don’t fear God or care about people, [5] but this woman is driving me crazy. I’m going to see that she gets justice, because she is wearing me out with her constant requests!’”

The disciples would have understood the parable because the principles of Old Covenant prayer are clear in this story. Jesus drew a contrast between the reluctance of the judge to give the widow a judgment and to act on it and God’s attitude towards His children. He will always respond with a judgment and an action.

Luke 18:6-7 NLT
[6] “Then the Lord said, “Learn a lesson from this unjust judge. [7] Even he rendered a just decision in the end. So don’t you think God will surely give justice to his chosen people who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off?”

The third word for prayer, “tefillah”, the most commonly-used word for prayer, adds another dimension to the original parent root. Tefillah is derived from the letters in the parent root, p and l as in  “palal” and “pala”.

To put these words together, prayer (palal) is the act of falling down to plead with the one who had the authority to make a judgment, and who will take action (pala) to ensure that the judgment is carried out to restore the pleasant and righteous life of the pray-er so that he/she moves him towards “tefillah” which is the ultimate purpose for “palal” and “pala”, admiration (worship) of the Judge.

Concealed in the parent root, “pal”, and its child roots “palal” and “pala”, and encapsulated in the noun, “tefillah”, we have a rich and amazing picture of prayer which is a far cry from our impoverished Western philosophical understanding of what prayer is about. Prayer, in its essence, is much more than talking to God. It’s about moving towards God in deep heart communion.

In our next study, we shall put  these concepts of prayer in the Old Covenant into our understanding of New Covenant prayer, enriched with the additions of grace, mercy, and salvation. We must push on until we reach an understanding of how profound prayer in the New Covenant really is.

To be continued…

SHOOT AT THE TARGET

Prayer, ,

Colossians 4:3-4 NLT
[3] “Pray for us, too, that God will give us many opportunities to speak about his mysterious plan concerning Christ. That is why I am here in chains. [4] Pray that I will proclaim this message as clearly as I should.”

Great apostle that he was, Paul was aware that he was a vulnerable human being. He needed the prayer support of his fellow believers as much as anyone else. He was not too proud to ask for prayer even from those whom he didn’t know personally.

What were his specific requests, the target he wanted to hit? First, opportunities, and second, clarity. Why ask for opportunities? Wasn’t it the Lord who sent him to take the message to the Gentiles? Surely, He would give Paul the opportunities to do the job! Yes, and no.

Yes, to hit the target, Paul needed the Lord to supply the opportunities that would best serve His purpose. No, it was no use shooting at everything, wasting time on people who would refuse to listen. It was the Lord who would open the way to fruitfulness.

Why did Paul need clarity to pass the message on to others? He was a human, just like everyone else, subject to the weaknesses of humanity. He could also fall prey to weariness or discouragement, or become stale in his presentation of the precious message.

Paul never forgot that he was in partnership with the Lord. Partnership involved communication. It was not his role to bash on without consulting his senior Partner and he also needed others to support him in this work.

So, Paul invited his fellow believers to share this partnership by asking the Lord to do just what He wanted to do, to give Paul the opportunities to present the message that would bear fruit and to keep Paul’s mind fresh and clear as he repeated the story of Jesus to every new audience.

Ephesians 6:19-20 NLT
[19] “And pray for me, too. Ask God to give me the right words so I can boldly explain God’s mysterious plan that the Good News is for Jews and Gentiles alike. [20] I am in chains now, still preaching this message as God’s ambassador. So pray that I will keep on speaking boldly for him, as I should.”

Paul urged all his fellow believers to share with him in his mission. He was never a lone ranger. He must never feel that he was alone in this enterprise. He had companions to support him as he travelled and preached. He had partners who prayed as he went.

(An excellent blog on “Partnership Through Prayer…
https//:reconciledworld.org)

So, Paul commends and encourages this partnership on which he leant hard for the safety and success of his mission and calling.

Philippians 1:15, 18-19 NLT
[15] “It’s true that some are preaching out of jealousy and rivalry. But others preach about Christ with pure motives….
[18] But that doesn’t matter. Whether their motives are false or genuine, the message about Christ is being preached either way, so I rejoice. And I will continue to rejoice. [19] For I know that as you pray for me and the Spirit of Jesus Christ helps me, this will lead to my deliverance.”

So it must be in this journey of life…never alone! We have the Spirit in us as our personal Companion and Helper. We have our fellow believers alongside us to help us bear the burden of duty and responsibility. God has ordained that prayer is the way to empower us as we carry out our commission, and partnership enables us all to have a share in the rewards. Some stay at home; others go, but together we form the team that succeeds.

This pattern of partnership was the secret of the China Inland Mission, later to become the Overseas Missionary Fellowship. It’s founder, Hudson Taylor, had a prayer support team led by his mother back home, that faithfully prayed for him and his companions as they pressed deeper into inland China. Against the tide of paganism, the gospel began to take root.

Later, after years of ruthless communism, the church, founded by Taylor and his fellow missionaries, emerged alive and flourishing despite severe persecution. Today, Chinese Christians still press on, strong and vigorous against the tide of opposition and unbelief.

It’s this focused prayer, as Paul requested, recognising and shooting at the target, that enables us to participate in the growth of God’s kingdom on earth.

As an aside, perhaps the church today has ignored or lost this mandate of partnership in prayer that shaped the church of long ago, to our loss. Is this one of the reasons for a modern church, in the main, that is weak, insipid, and compromising, in the place of a family of people that stand out for truth and righteousness in a very muddied world?

MORE THAN PRAYER – 2

Prayer, ,

Colossians 2:1-3 NLT
[1] “I want you to know how much I have agonized for you and for the church at Laodicea, and for many other believers who have never met me personally. [2] I want them to be encouraged and knit together by STRONG TIES OF LOVE. I want them to have complete confidence that they understand God’s mysterious plan, which is Christ himself. [3] In him lie hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.”

There are two themes in Paul’s prayers for the churches he did not found, at Colosse, Laodicea, and other believers who, he said, “…have not met me personally.”

These two themes recur throughout the New Testament – union with Christ and love for one another. These two simple requirements lay the foundation for our lives as children of God and citizens of His kingdom.

1 John 2:3-6 NLT
[3] “And we can be sure that we know him if we obey his commandments. [4] If someone claims, “I know God,” but doesn’t obey God’s commandments, that person is a liar and is not living in the truth. [5] But those who obey God’s word truly show how completely they love him. That is how we know we are living in him. [6] Those who say they live in God should live their lives as Jesus did.”

Two laws replace the complicated legal system of the Old Covenant.

1 John 3:23 NLT
[23]”And this is his commandment: We must believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and love one another, just as he commanded us.”

Every other detail of our lives as believers in Jesus falls under these two simple directives. As I have written many times over, Jesus has called us into union with Himself, to live under His authority and to love His family. What could be more simple than that?

Loving God’s children is the counterpart of loving Jesus. Only by showing genuine love for the wellbeing of God’s children can we demonstrate the genuineness of our love for Him.

John majored on this principle in his first letter. How can we say we love God if we don’t demonstrate our love for Him by the way we treat each other in His family?

Loving one another in practical ways is the evidence of our love for Jesus.

1 John 2:7, 10 NLT
[7] “Dear friends, I am not writing a new commandment for you; rather it is an old one you have had from the very beginning. This old commandment—to love one another—is the same message you heard before…
[10] Anyone who loves a fellow believer is living in the light and does not cause others to stumble.”

How can we show our love for a fellow believer? By many practical ways of meeting their needs at our own expense.

1 John 3:11, 14, 16-18 NLT
[11]”This is the message you have heard from the beginning: We should love one another…
[14] If we love our brothers and sisters who are believers, it proves that we have passed from death to life. But a person who has no love is still dead…
[16] We know what real love is because Jesus gave up his life for us. So we also ought to give up our lives for our brothers and sisters. [17] If someone has enough money to live well and sees a brother or sister in need but shows no compassion—how can God’s love be in that person? [18] Dear children, let’s not merely say that we love each other; let us show the truth by our actions.”

The Bible shows us ways in which we can express our love for Jesus by loving His people.

  1. By many practical ways of meeting needs. Food and clothing, shelter and care, are all part of the way we can express our love.
  2. By living in peace and harmony with one another, forgiving and restoring broken relationships, preserving unity by humble submission to one another.
  3. By bearing one another’s burdens, by encouragement, support, and prayer.
  4. By building one another up in our mutual faith in Christ.
  5. By using our spiritual gifts to serve one another.

It is not possible for us to participate in one another’s lives in all these ways but, as we are gifted by the Holy Spirit to serve one another, we are a mosaic of loving service to our church family. Doing life together in a community of faith is a powerful witness to outsiders of the power of the gospel. Jesus said that it is our love for one another and the unity that binds us together that bears witness that the Father sent Him.

How much better, then, when opportunity arises, to spend time taking care of the needs of fellow believers than using time, effort, and money preparing programmes and planning conferences and seminars which are, in the end, mostly forgotten!

Life in this generation is fast and furious. Loving each other is a way to slow down, and take time to minister life to the body of Christ that is meaningful and productive.

MORE THAN PRAYER

Prayer, ,

Colossians 2:1-3 NLT
[1] “I want you to know how much I have agonized for you and for the church at Laodicea, and for many other believers who have never met me personally. [2] I want them to be encouraged and knit together by strong ties of love. I want them to have complete confidence that they understand God’s mysterious plan, which is Christ himself. [3] In him lie hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.”

Paul used the Greek word “agon” to explain his desire for these Colossian believers.

(Strong’s g73

Ribust : ἀγών

  • Transliteration: agón
  • Part of Speech: Noun, Masculine
  • Phonetic Spelling: ag-one’
  • Definition: an (athletic) contest; hence, a struggle (in the soul).
  • Origin: From ago; properly, a place of assembly (as if led), i.e. (by implication) a contest (held there); figuratively, an effort or anxiety.
  • Usage: conflict, contention, fight, race.
  • Translated as (count): conflict (2), fight (2), a struggle (1), race (1)….)

Familiar as he was with the Greek culture of games, Paul saw his role in the lives of these new believers as one who was in a race, contending for the prize of spiritual maturity for these believers.

The English words, “agony” and “agonise” come from this Greek word. In its derivation, there is a sense of profound emotion, energy, and labour. Paul was not just talking about this matter to the Lord. He was agonising in prayer for these believers, using up his spiritual energy so that Christ in them would be so powerfully at work that they would become mature in their faith and behaviour, reflecting the Christ who was in them.

Paul had no time for armchair believers…passengers who jumped on the bandwagon for the ride. He wasn’t satisfied with church-going, Bible-believing, tithing, praying, “witnessing” Christans. He was only interested in radically transformed, emerging replicas of Jesus, living as citizens of heaven in a fallen world.

He did not fully know the content of Epaphras’ preaching and teaching that had brought them to faith in Jesus. He used this opportunity to fill in all the details of their understanding so that their faith would be grounded in the whole truth.

Paul knew how important it was for these ex-pagans to have a solid foundation of truth on which to build their new lives. They had the Old Covenant from their ex-Jewish brothers in the church as preparation, but they needed the New Covenant interpretation as the rock on which to stand.

They lived in dangerous times. They were surrounded by hostile neighbours who were on the lookout for victims to accuse. Both Jews and Greeks were unsympathetic towards them. Without the confidence in God’s love and protection provided in the gospel, without the assurance of God’s supernatural power at work in them, without the confidence of their union with Jesus, they would not be able to stand their ground against persecution.

Many of their fellow believers were perishing at the hands of violent and cruel persecutors. What hope had they unless their faith in Christ steadied them and reassured them of His presence regardless of their fate?

So, Paul’s prayers were agonising over these beloved people, that they would stand and grow in the midst of adversity. Lip service would not survive. Only robust confidence in the Christ who lived in them would see them through to victory and full salvation.

What about us? In the most part, Satan’s tactics to destroy the church are far more subtle and dangerous than blatant opposition. He could only kill them once but he could undermine their faith in Jesus in many ways and many times.

For many decades, he has tried to obliterate the church through communism. His tactic not only failed, but it also contributed to the growth of a thriving church. For example, the church in China, driven underground by the Communist revolution, has emerged strong and vigourous, shaming the church in the West by its maturity compared with insipid and compromising Western Christianity.

Satan’s tactic, especially in the West, is to distract the church with irrelevant issues, and compromising beliefs and practices. The church has become cluttered with old and new traditions, interpretations, beliefs, and doctrines, cultural additions, you name it, until the simplicity of our life in Christ is no longer recognisable.

As long as we are preoccupied with programmes, conferences and seminars, workshops and training, functions and…and…and…we think we are are “doing the Lord’s work!” Really!

Paul made a sobering statement to the Corithinan church.

1 Corinthians 3:10-15 NLT
[10] “Because of God’s grace to me, I have laid the foundation like an expert builder. Now others are building on it. But whoever is building on this foundation must be very careful. [11] For no one can lay any foundation other than the one we already have—Jesus Christ. [12] Anyone who builds on that foundation may use a variety of materials—gold, silver, jewels, wood, hay, or straw. [13] But on the judgment day, fire will reveal what kind of work each builder has done. The fire will show if a person’s work has any value. [14] If the work survives, that builder will receive a reward. [15] But if the work is burned up, the builder will suffer great loss. The builder will be saved, but like someone barely escaping through a wall of flames.”

Unless we, as the global church of the Lord Jesus, are building on the foundation of Jesus as Lord, using the precious building material of truth, and staying loyal to the simplicity of “Christ in you, the hope of glory”, we are in danger of losing the superstructure of our work, and our rewards, ending up with nothing but our own skin.

Paul agonised over those who had come to faith in Jesus, whoever and wherever they were. His goal? Only Christ in them! What of us? Are we content with compromise and mediocrity in our labour, or will we join him in agonising for those that come under our care?

Galatians 4:19 NLT
[19] “Oh, my dear children! I feel as if I’m going through labor pains for you again, and they will continue until Christ is fully developed in your lives.”