Monday we looked at the choice the Israelites made in choosing to have a human king. The first three kings, Saul, David and Solomon had their good and bad points. The kingdom of Israel degraded into civil war and divided after that. Northern and Southern Israel were ruled by a succession of evil kings (and one queen) until both were conquered by foreigners. The rejection of God as their King cost them everything - even their country. God did not force himself on the Israelites. Using their free will, they chose human leaders and suffered the consequences about which God had warned them. We use our free will every day, and we too either gain the advantages or suffer the disadvantages of our choices. For reflection: What major decisions/choices am I facing? What might the long-term benefits or consequences be? Let us pray. Father, I am not able to see as far down the road as you. You know better the advantages and disadvantages of the decisions I am facing. Impart your grace and grant me wisdom. "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; all who follow his precepts have good understanding. To him belongs eternal praise" (Psalm 111:10).
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Sometimes people are appointed as leaders, and then turn out not to be good at it. We see this over and over in the Scriptures. One example is that of Samuel's sons, Joel and Abijah. Samuel was a good judge and prophet for Israel. When he got up in years, he appointed his two sons to follow in his footsteps. Unfortunately they accepted bribes and perverted justice (1 Samuel 8:1-3). So the Israelites, because they wanted to be like the other nations around them, asked Samuel for a king. Knowing that the Lord alone was King of Israel, Samuel objected. But God told him even though they were rejecting God as their King to go ahead and appoint a king for Israel. So Samuel warned the people about what a human king would do to them: draft their sons into armies and wage endless wars, conscript them to make weapons of war and to tend his fields; take their daughters to work for him; tax their fields and vineyards until eventually they all became slaves to the king and the kingdom (1 Samuel 8:10-18). And so it came to be that Israel experienced a succession of human kings who did just what God had said. For reflection: Who is king in my life? Has anyone or anything enslaved me? Let us pray. Father, I repent of not putting you first in my life. I declare today that you are my king and you are above all else in my life. I want to weed out all the other things I have allowed to crowd you off the throne. I repent of and reject all addictions in my life, everything that separates me from you. Please show me how to change my life. At the end of Paul's letter to the Ephesians we saw that he was asking them to pray for him. In his first letter to Timothy he gives some instructions for prayer. "I urge . . . that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone -- for kings and all those in authority, that we might live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness" (1 Tim 2:1-2). The leaders of the U.S. don't make it into my prayers every day, but they certainly should. In addition to praying for the wisdom to govern, we should be praying for their salvation because, as Paul goes on to remind Timothy, God "wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus" (1 Tim 2:4-5). If we want to live peaceful and quiet lives in godliness and holiness, we need leaders who believe we should be allowed to do so and who will work to see that it happens. For reflection: For which governmental leader(s) shall I pray today? Are there leaders of other countries for whom I should be praying? Let us pray. King of kings, Lord of lords, Ruler of the universe, Almighty God and Father of all, we desire to live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. We thank you for our leaders. We know that you love them as your children. If they do not know you, we ask that someone be sent to bring them to the knowledge of your love for them. We ask you to inspire them with paths to peace and not war, and the best decisions that can be made for the welfare of the people entrusted to them. Note: I am taking a few days off from blogging, the phone line and the email prayer requests. Other members of Manna Prayer will be posting and checking the phone and email. I will see you again in October. I'd also like to remind you that under "Prayer Resources" on the website there is a prayer for anyone you think might be dangerous to himself or others. It is my strong belief that with prayer we can avert mass shootings and suicides. -- Alice After putting on the armor of God there is one more element Paul mentions for success in defeating the enemy, and it is prayer. Paul says, "Pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints" (Eph 6:18). I realize that praying in the Spirit, or praying in tongues, is controversial. I don't know if it was controversial in Paul's churches or not, but he speaks of it and recommends it frequently. He thought it was extremely important as a tool for both offense and defense, and for worship. Just as the armor of God is a gift (there is no way to earn it or manufacture it), praying in the spirit is a gift (see 1 Cor 12 - 14). We can ask the Father for it and receive it as long as we will be responsible for using it. We must be diligent in using whatever God gives us. I think praying in the Spirit is the only way we can "pray always" or "on all occasions". With practice we can train our subconscious to pray in the Spirit at all times. What about "with all kinds of prayers and requests"? I often think my prayers are not big enough. I don't have God's vision for the big picture - and I should. We know that God wants all people to be saved (1 Timothy 2:1-5). We can pray for the safety and salvation of entire countries, or certain populations, or even towns. For reflection: What area or what people is God laying on my heart for prayer? Is it a nation, or people who suffer from a certain illness, or refugees, or a religious denomination? Let us pray. Father, I open myself more to your Spirit. I open myself to praying in the Spirit. Lead me to pray as you want for what you want, to join my vision to your vision, to see as you see, to love as you love, to bring about your kingdom on earth as it is in heaven. Paul continues in Ephesians 6 to describe an entire suit of armor to protect us in battles against evil. In addition to the belt of truth, he mentions the breastplate of righteousness, the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation. Those are all for defense and really depend on faith in God and what God can do and has promised to do. The sword of the Spirit is an offensive weapon. It is the word of God which can be used to combat the words of the evil one such as Jesus did when tempted in the desert. He came right back at Satan with Scripture (Mt 4:1-11) to contradict what Satan said. We can't fight the father of lies if we don't recognize the lie for what it is and know the Scripture which contradicts and overcomes it. The other part of God's armor which Paul mentions is the shoes of the gospel of peace (Eph 6:15). Most see these as another defensive weapon, but I see them as an offensive weapon. The shoes of the gospel of peace enable us to go forward, to tread on the enemy (Christ has put Satan under his feet), and to spread the gospel of peace where the enemy engenders war, chaos and death. Again, our battle is not against flesh and blood, but against the spiritual forces of evil (Eph 6:11-12). For reflection: God provides the armor. Will I take it up and use it? Let us pray. Jesus, help me to recognize my true enemies. By faith help me to take up your armor and continue to go where you lead me, spreading your good news, your gospel of peace throughout the earth. Friday we began to look at our true enemy, Satan. Paul instructs the Ephesians to put on God's armor, the same armor God is described as wearing in Isaiah 11:5 and 59:17. The first item to put on is the belt of truth (Eph 6:14). Why? Because John says in his Gospel (8:44) that Satan is the father of lies. Satan will tempt us with lies and half truths and by trying to sow doubt as he did with Jesus in the desert (Luke 4:1-13). If we know the truth of the Scriptures, it goes a long way toward defeating temptation. If we know "The Truth", that is even more powerful. Jesus said, "I am the way and the truth and the life" (John 14:6). The Truth we need to know is Jesus himself. Then we can "put on" Jesus. It is not sufficient to simply know the Scriptures, we must know Jesus. He is our Truth. For reflection: Am I spending time in dialogue with Jesus each day so that I can get to know him better? Am I spending time with the Scriptures each day? What truth is God speaking to me today? Let us pray. Jesus, you are the way, the truth and the life. You are the living bread, the bread of life. You are the light of the word and the light of my life. Lately I realize more and more the truth of Paul's statement to the Ephesians that "our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms" (Eph 6:12). And as James says, "What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don't they come from your desires that battle within you? You want something but don't get it. You kill and covet, but you cannot have what you want. You quarrel and fight" (James 4:1-2). If our enemy is not a flesh-and-blood person, then killing that person is not the answer. Killing and war are not the solutions that so many people think they are. As Christians we must take the battle where it belongs. It is a spiritual battle of good against evil, of control over the minds and hearts of people, because a person devoted to God seeks peace not war and death. Whether the battle is between nations or just two people, as Christians we must identify the real enemy and engage the battle there. For reflection: Am I able to identify the true enemy facing me? Facing my family? Facing my country? Let us pray. Father, I ask for discernment in identifying the true identity of the enemy facing me. And I ask for the spiritual weapons I need to defeat that enemy. I also need greater love for the people who appear to be my enemies. Help me to see them as you see them. School has begun in many places either last week or this week. Thinking about children reminded me of St. John's habit of addressing us as "dear children" in his letters. By the time John writes his letters he is an older man. A little bit of the newness of Christianity has begun to wear off and some people have begun to slip back into their old ways. False teachers have come along and led people astray. John, one of the original 12 disciples, an eyewitness to the life of Jesus, sets out to correct this and does it by presenting for us several contrasts or choices. The first is light versus darkness. "God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth." (1 John 1:5-6). One of the false teachings in John's day was that you could gratify all of your physical desires in whatever way you wanted because your body was going to die anyway. That teaching is still around; it has never gone out of style. Christians today are still tempted by that teaching. But like the college freshman who discovers he has the option to eat ice cream at every meal, we eventually face the consequences of our actions. Some are physical consequences, like the gaining of weight, and some are spiritual consequences, like deadening our spirits to what is really right and wrong. When we deaden our spirits to the truth of right and wrong, we refuse to repent when faced with our sin. We prefer to walk in darkness rather than in the light. For reflection: "My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have one who speaks to the Father in our defense -- Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world" (1 John 2:1-2). Let us pray. Father, thank you for sending your Son Jesus to offer himself for my sin. May I always take advantage of that sacrifice and confess my sin. I want always to walk in your light. Please help me to recognize false teachings and to reject the lure of error and sin. We interrupt our story of Cornelius, the Roman officer, to let you know what is happening with Peter. We skipped over Acts 9:43 about Peter staying in the home of a tanner named Simon. Since a tanner handled dead animals, Simon would be considered "unclean". So Peter was breaking a Jewish tradition, and making himself ritually unclean, by staying with Simon. About the time Cornelius is sending his men to bring Peter to his house, Peter has a vision wherein a voice tells him to "kill and eat" all the kinds of unclean animals he is seeing. Peter refuses because he has never eaten unclean foods before. The voice says, "Do not call anything impure that God has made clean." Peter carries on this exchange three times (Acts 10:9-16). Peter comes out of the vision, and while he is still thinking about it, the Holy Spirit tells him three men are coming to fetch him (the ones sent by Cornelius) and he should go with them. The next day Peter and a group of disciples set out for Cornelius's house. Going into the home of Cornelius, a gentile, also breaks another Jewish tradition which would again make Peter ritually unclean just as staying in the home of Simon the tanner did. But now Peter realizes the message God was giving him in the vision - he should not call any person unclean (Acts 10:27-29). For reflection: Am I judging others as being "unclean", beneath me or not worth my time? (By the way, I saw Woody Allen's movie "Blue Jasmine" over the weekend, and it has this same theme. The truths of the Gospel are always current.) Let us pray. Father, forgive me for the times when I have looked down on others, turned them away, passed them by. Help me to see all people as persons you have created and whom you love. Help me to see them and love them as you do. Having escaped from Damascus with his life, Saul heads to Jerusalem where he is not welcomed. The disciples in Jerusalem are still afraid of the notorious man and doubt his conversion. Poor Saul is not accepted until Barnabas comes from Damascus to vouch for him. So then Saul begins to preach in Jerusalem, and before long the Jews there are trying to kill him just as the Jews in Damascus were. So the other disciples send him home to Tarsus (Acts 9:23-30). The disciples in these early days had the wisdom to know when it was time to flee and when it was time to stand. Although Stephen had stood his ground and been stoned, it was not time for the other disciples to do so. For reflection: Do I have the discernment to know when it is time to speak and when to keep silent? When to stay and when to go? When to stand my ground and when to leave the field and live to witness another day? Let us pray. Lord Jesus, I place my life and my times in your hands. Lead me where I should go and keep me from where I should not be. Grant me the wisdom and discernment to hear your voice and to follow it. |
AliceI started this website and blog on May 1, 2012. I am a Catholic who has been in ministry for many years. I first developed what I would call a close relationship with Jesus in the early 1970s. Ever since then I have been praying with people for healing and other needs. It is because I have seen so many of these prayers answered that I am so bold as to offer to pray for you individually through this website and phone line. Archives
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