How can I know if my faith isn’t even the size of a mustard seed?

If I can honestly answer the question, “What do I think is impossible?” I will probably find out where I have little faith.

Spurgeon on Praying in the Spirit

The seed of acceptable devotion must come from heaven’s storehouse.  Only the prayer which comes from God can go to God.

Spurgeon’s five aspects of praying in the Spirit:

1. Fervency: “Those who do not plead with fervency, plead not at all.”
2. Perseveringly: “The longer the gate is closed, the more vehemently does he uses the knocker.”
3. Humbly: “Out of hte depths must we cry, or we shall never behold glory in the highest.”
4. Loving: “Prayer should be perfumed with love, saturated with love — love to saints, and love to Christ.”
5. Faith: “A man prevails only as he believes.”

Most blessed Comforter, exert Thy mighty power within us, helping our infirmities in prayer!

Read the whole thing here.

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Related Posts:

• We Pray Because Only God Can Do It
• Persevering in Prayer
• Faith in Prayer

Resting in God

A guest post by Andrew Reiners

This is a devotional taken out of a book called The Valley of Vision edited by Arthur Bennett. This specific devotional pretty much sums up what I have been feeling lately as I have fought for joy and peace with God throughout a couple of stressful weeks at work and the absence of my wonderful girlfriend who is in Serbia on a missions project for the next five weeks. I have often found myself lately wanting to just crawl into bed for the next few weeks and avoid the realities and hardships of life. This is my prayer tonight that the Lord would restore my joy in him and give me a deeper pleasure in the gospel and desire to let the light of Christ shine in me during my day. The author of this devotional is unknown as the book does not state the authors of each specific article.  Hope this can be an encouragement and blessing to others.

O God, most high, most glorious, the thought of Thine infinite serenity cheers me, for I am toiling and moiling, troubled and distressed, but Thou art for ever at perfect peace. Thy designs cause thee no fear or care of unfulfilment, they stand fast as the eternal hills. Thy power knows no bond, Thy goodness no stint. Thou bringest order out of confusion, and my defeats are Thy victories: The Lord God omnipotent reigneth.

I come to Thee as a sinner with cares and sorrows, to leave every concern entirely to Thee, every sin calling for Christ’s precious blood; revive deep spirituality in my heart; let me live near to the great Shepherd, hear His voice, know its tones, follow its calls. Keep me from deception by causing me to abide in the truth, from harm by helping me to walk in the power of the Spirit. Give me intenser faith in the eternal verities, burning into me by experience the things I know; Let me never be ashamed of the truth of the gospel, that I may bear its reproach, vindicate it, see Jesus as its essence, know in it the power of the Spirit.

Lord, help me, for I am often lukewarm and chill; unbelief mars my confidence, sin makes me forget Thee. Let the weeds that grow in my soul be cut at their roots; grant me to know that I truly live only when I live to Thee, that all else is trifling. Thy presence alone can make me holy, devout, strong and happy. Abide in me, gracious God.

We Pray Because Only God Can Do It

If a Christian really believed that his friend had some ability, power, or goodness within himself to choose Jesus as Lord and Savior apart from the free, sovereign, electing grace of God, he wouldn’t pray that his friend get saved.  He would simply figure out more relevant or strategic ways to draw out what is already inside his friend.

If people had the ability in themselves to be born again, prayer wouldn’t do a thing.  The ability to save your own soul implies spiritual autonomy.  An autonomous soul cannot be influenced by anything.  Alternatively, by definition, prayer is pleading with God for him do something.

The new birth of a sinner is not an exception.  The problem is that people are spiritually dead (Eph. 2:1-5), and there needs to be more than an mere influence on their stone hearts.  There needs to be an ultimate influence.  There needs to be a complete heart transplant.

So, go to your friends and plead with them to look to Jesus (Rom. 10:13-17).  But plead to God that he might save their souls — by his grace he might grant them repentance that leads to life (Acts 11:18; 2 Tim. 2:25).

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Related Posts:

• Does Prayer Change God’s Mind?
• Trust God, Not Yourself, to Reveal His Truth to Others
• God’s Sovereign Choice in Salvation

Discipline is Not Legalism

From John Piper:

But the hard truth is that most Christians don’t pray very much. They pray at meals—unless they’re still stuck in the adolescent stage of calling good habits legalism. They whisper prayers before tough meetings. They say something brief as they crawl into bed. But very few set aside set times to pray alone—and fewer still think it is worth it to meet with others to pray. And we wonder why our faith is weak. And our hope is feeble. And our passion for Christ is small.

And meanwhile the devil is whispering all over this room: “The pastor is getting legalistic now. He’s starting to use guilt now. He’s getting out the law now.” To which I say, “To hell with the devil and all of his destructive lies. Be free!” Is it true that intentional, regular, disciplined, earnest, Christ-dependent, God-glorifying, joyful prayer is a duty? . . . Is it a discipline?

You can call it that.

• It’s a duty the way it’s the duty of a scuba diver to put on his air tank before he goes underwater.
• It’s a duty the way pilots listen to air traffic controllers.
• It’s a duty the way soldiers in combat clean their rifles and load their guns.
• It’s a duty the way hungry people eat food.
• It’s a duty the way thirsty people drink water.
• It’s a duty the way a deaf man puts in his hearing aid.
• It’s a duty the way a diabetic takes his insulin.
• It’s a duty the way Pooh Bear looks for honey.
• It’s a duty the way pirates look for gold.

I hate the devil, and the way he is killing some of you by persuading you it is legalistic to be as regular in your prayers as you are in your eating and sleeping and Internet use. Do you not see what a sucker he his making out of you? He is laughing up his sleeve at how easy it is to deceive Christians about the importance of prayer.

God has given us means of grace. If we do not use them to their fullest advantage, our complaints against him will not stick. If we don’t eat, we starve. If we don’t drink, we get dehydrated. If we don’t exercise a muscle, it atrophies. If we don’t breathe, we suffocate. And just as there are physical means of life, there spiritual are means of grace. Resist the lies of the devil in 2009, and get a bigger breakthrough in prayer than you’ve ever had.

What Manna Do You Need Today?

In the evening quail came up and covered the camp, and in the morning dew lay around the camp.  And when the dew had gone up, there was on the face of the wilderness a fine, flake-like thing, fine as frost on the ground. When the people of Israel saw it, they said to one another, “What is it?” For they did not know what it was. And Moses said to them, “It is the bread that the LORD has given you to eat. This is what the LORD has commanded: ‘Gather of it, each one of you, as much as he can eat. You shall each take an omer, according to the number of the persons that each of you has in his tent.’” And the people of Israel did so. They gathered, some more, some less. But when they measured it with an omer, whoever gathered much had nothing left over, and whoever gathered little had no lack. Each of them gathered as much as he could eat.
- Exodus 16:13-18

God provided everything the Israelites needed to survive.  He gave them meat, bread, and water.  Yet they still complained.  In Matthew 6, Jesus taught us to pray like this: “Our Father…give us this day our daily bread.”  I’m sure for all of you, you have what you need physically.  We have a home, food, and clothes.  If we have these, we will be content (1 Tim. 6:8).  Yet we still complain.

Though God wants to and does provide physical needs, when Jesus taught us how to pray, I think he meant primarily manna for the soul.  I would argue that if our soul is fed, then our external circumstances will not be worthy of complaints.  Christian, what manna do you need today from the Lord?  Do you need strength to enjoy him?  Do you need comfort during afflication?  Do you need conviction for a habitual sin?  Do you need love for an enemy?  Do you need patience in trial?  Do you need thankfulness in bad circumstances?  Do you need courage in the face of death?

I know that I need these today — and daily.  I’m willing to bet that you do as well.  Go to your heavenly Father for your bread today.  He is more than willing to give it.

Mohler’s Prayer for America on Election Day

Al Mohler posts a prayer for all of us to remember (and pray!) in light of today’s election.

Mourning Death, Rejoicing in Hope

 

Last night, I got a phone call from a friend telling me that a young man who was being mentored by one of my best friends committed suicide earlier in the day.  If you could be praying for those close to the situation, it would be a great blessing.  I know that you don’t know names, but God does and right now, that is enough.  Pray for comfort in affliction, perspective amidst despair, and grace despite death. Last night, we spent a lot of time praying about the situation and simply processing so many thoughts and emotions.  Right now, we are seeking to live by faith during a confusing hour. Pray for clarity, wisdom, and the knowledge that God is still good.

I have confidence that while we mourn — and we are called to mourn — “joy will come in the morning” (Ps. 30:5) and as Jesus told Martha when her brother Lazarus died, “Did I not tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God” (John 11:40). Truly, God can use death to bring joy to us and glory to himself.

This is a hard, hard situation. But one in which we are called to “Rejoice always; pray without ceasing; and give thanks in every circumstance…” (1 Thes. 4:16-18). Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 6:8, 10, “We are…sorrowful, yet always rejoicing.” James 1:2-4 says, “Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.” The Word needs to saturate our hearts. We need to claim the promises — and heed the commands – of God even when tragedy strikes.

Jesus is still on the throne.  Jesus is still glorious.  Jesus is still most satisfying even during the dark hour of suicide.

Thanks for praying with us.
james

Persevering in Prayer

Here’s the last post about petitioning God in prayer.  As promised, I will have the remainder of the TULIP series in the coming days.  These posts on prayer have seemed more important to me at the moment.

Praying with you,
james

Definition: Enduring in prayer so that I pray until I get an answer and blessings, not the ones that satisfy my selfishness, but ones that satisfy my longings to see God glorified in the outcome so that I get the most joy.

When we persevere in our prayers (or pray constantly, with endurance, or unceasingly, or always, etc) we are essentially putting our complete trust the Lord. We are going to him helplessly and presenting our requests to God. When we persevere, our faith and hope is in him. In essence, we are not losing heart. We can go to God and persevere because we know he is omniscient and omnipotent. He will not leave us out to dry. We can know, if we are a true child of God that we can say “Praise God” for a prayer request that happens and say “Praise God” for a prayer request that does not happen. Both happen because God wills and he wants to work everything together for our good (Rom. 8:28). If something doesn’t happen that we ask for, something better is in God’s mind. Something greater is on the way. For these reasons, we can persevere in prayer and pray continually.

• Genesis 32:22-32, Jacob wrestles with God. Just as God said to Moses, “Leave me alone,” he said to Jacob, “Let me go, for the day has broken.” Jacob would not let God go. He was persistent. He persevered. He said, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.” Jacob was not going to give up in his pursuit of God’s blessing. He literally wrestled with God physically. How much more should we spiritually wrestle with the Lord when we have requests to ask or sins to deal with? 
• 1 Kings 18:41-46 is also a great example of perseverance. When Elijah was praying fervently for rain, he sent his servant up the mountain to look over the sea to check if there was any rain coming. Elijah asked his servant to do this seven times! He would not take “no” for an answer. He was persistent and he persevered. This is not to say that God will do everything we want if we just keep asking him, but it does mean that if we do not see an answer (as Elijah’s servant did not regarding the rain) we can, with faith in God’s sovereignty and faithfulness, that he will tell us yes or no or (continue to) wait.
• Luke 18:1-8 is about the parable of the persistent widow. Verse 1 says: “And he told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart.”
• Acts 1:14, “All these with one accord were devoting themselves to prayer.” The apostles and followers of Jesus were getting together to pray for guidance and for boldness. They wanted to be unified and preach the gospel. They were “devoted” to it.
• Romans 12:12, “Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant (endure) in prayer.” To persevere in prayer simply means to be constant, to not give up, or to be continually in conversation with the Lord about certain issues. Here, in Romans 12, praying is connected to rejoicing in hope and being patient in tribulation. These three are paired up possibly because when we are hoping in the Lord, we rejoice in him and communicate that, in prayer, to him. In tribulations, we must endure patiently, and communicate, in prayer, trust in the Lord that he is in control and has our best good in mind. Those things are mentioned first, as indicators of what we need to pray. “Rejoice! Be patient! Pray about these things all the time.” Hope and tribulation are two opposite things. Paul urges the Romans that even in the most plentiful and most desperate situations we must pray to the Lord and love him despite of the circumstances. 
• Ephesians 6:18, “Praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication for all the saints.” Here we are urged to pray for the saints at all times. We should pray specific prayers for believers that we know and are close to. We should also pray sweeping prayers for the world of believer that we will never meet.
• Colossians 4:2, “Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving.” Paul urges the Colossians to unwaveringly in pray. “Don’t lose heart! Don’t give up! Be on your guard in prayer by giving thanks always, lest you become selfish and ungrateful.” We must have an attitude of thanksgiving in our prayers. It keeps us humble and the more humble we are, the more we will want to go to God in prayer. There more we will want to go to God in prayer, the more we will pray and persevere.
• 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18, “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” This verse connects rejoicing and giving thanks with prayer. Again, we express both of these things to God in prayer. We can sing songs, yes, but those are nothing more than prayers set to music. Most of the Psalms are prayers, but when they were written, they may have been temple praise songs.

Holy Arguments in Prayer

Definition: Presenting requests fully based on Scripture and trusting God to grant requests based on his character and promises, not demanding God based on my situation.

There are so many examples of holy arguments in Scripture that we don’t have time nor space to take them all in. We will use three examples, with various verses from the Psalms as examples of things David or others said to present their requests to God. We must remember that holy argument is not about convincing God that our request is righteous; it’s about convincing ourselves by testing our requests against Scripture to see if it is righteous. We must also remember again that if the answer to our request is “No” there is nothing wrong with God. Sometimes, in his wisdom and knowledge, he chooses to not give us something because it will not be best for us (Rom. 8:28). We should thank him, instead, if the answer is no because it will keep us from danger, give us something greater, lead us to something we would have never expected, etc.

Exodus 32:7-14, God wanted to destroy the Israelites after they had built a golden calf after God gave Moses the Ten Commandments. God’s anger was burning “hot against them.” Moses offers these arguments to God for not destroying them:

1. The Egyptians will say that God had evil intent to rescue the Israelites, just so he could kill them in the wilderness (v. 12). Why give the Egyptians fuel? God’s very character is at stake here-his motives and intentions. It wouldn’t be consistent of God to rescue the Israelites from Egypt and then destroy them in the desert.
2. God promised the Patriarchs (Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob) that their descendants would be great (v. 13). If God destroys the Israelites now, the Patriarchs will no longer have descendants and therefore, God would be a liar. Again, Moses argues by appealing to God’s character and shows the inconsistency that would exist if God were to destroy the Jews.

This may seem like God changed his mind-or that Moses changed God’s mind. In a sense, God is repenting (= turning) from his first desires. First Samuel 15 talks about this in a different light-not in the sphere of prayer. It says that God regretted (repented of) making Saul the king. Piper says that God still has foreknowledge because, like a father, he can ordain something (like spanking a child) and rejoice in the righteousness of that act, yet at the same time be remorseful because it is a hard thing to do. If a father who is human can have a combination of complex emotions, how much more can an infinite God have that kind of emotional construct?  In this passage, God says to Moses, “Leave me alone.” This is similar to the fight between God and Jacob when God said, “Let me go!” When God says something like that in Scripture, he doesn’t really mean it. He really means, “Stay with me. Don’t give up.”

2 Chronicles 20:5-12, King Jehoshaphat prays for God’s guidance, strength and protection against the Ammonites and the Moabites. The situation was so intense that Jehoshaphat was afraid to set his face to seek the Lord (v. 3). Perhaps, he was afraid of what the Lord might have called him to do. The holy argument comes during his prayer. He argues:

1. “Are you not God in heaven?” (v. 6), He argued the point that God is the only all-powerful one. If they cannot count on him, who can they count on?
2. “Did you not, our God, drive out the inhabitants of this land before your people Israel?” (v. 7), Jehoshaphat argued that God had already done something greater-driving the people out of this land to give it to the Jews.
3. “O our God, will you not execute judgment on them? (v. 12), He pleaded with the Lord for judgment. God is a righteous, just God and he cannot handle sin. He will stand for his people and this situation is very urgent for the Israelites.

We must appeal to God’s character. These arguments are very God-centered. Notice, Jehoshaphat does not say things like: “O Lord, we need this. Do this for us because we are afraid!” “God, our people need to be comforted and things are stressful. Do this, Lord!” or “I expect you to do this God because you promised to keep us from the enemy.” Those are very man-centered, non-eternal perspective prayers. God wants us to trust in his character, love, grace, mercy, justice, and wrath in our prayers. He is the reason for everything happening-good or bad things. May we thank him no matter what the outcome.

Matthew 15:21-28, This woman is not doing what we think of as “praying,” yet she is communicating with the Lord Jesus-she is talking to him. Our discussion here about holy argument will be brief, as this passage has already been discussed (see above for how this passages relates to faith in prayer). In Ephesians 2:14, Paul writes that there was a “wall of hostility” between the Gentiles and God’s people before Christ. This episode in Matthew 15 was before Christ had died-Jesus’ first task was to preach to the Jews. This is why he said, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” It was not so much that Jesus was ignoring this woman, but rather he was testing her to see what kind of blessing she wanted. If she had wanted the blessing promised to Israel, Jesus would have sent her away, like the disciples asked. Yet, she persisted with (great) faith) and said, “Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.” This reveals a few things:

1. The woman did not expect to get the blessing that was promised to Israel. She was content to benefit from the overflow (the crumbs). “Yes, Lord, I know that I am just like a begging dog-but even a master’s dog needs to survive on the crumbs.” This shows her humility and knowledge that she deserved nothing.
2. The woman presumed to be a dog at a master’s table-not a mutt dog on the streets digging through garbage. This shows her knowledge that she is not too far gone to be blessed. Paul warned the Colossians against this. In Colossae, people were evidently defrauding (ESV=disqualifying) themselves of worshiping God because they felt too depraved and didn’t think they could go directly to the Mediator, Jesus Christ. Instead, they prayed to angels (Col. 2:16-23) and practiced asceticism, which is the abstinence of any kind of pleasure.
3. The women understood that it was God’s character to bless those who sought him. This woman’s argument is accepted by the Lord because it falls within the bounds of God’s will to reach the Gentiles after he reached the Jews. Why did God go to the Jews first? Only he knows, for such was “according to his gracious will” (Matt. 11:26, when Jesus rejoiced that the Father had hidden things from some and revealed them to little children). God did not only reach out to Jews throughout the history of redemption. Some of the people God used: Pharaoh’s daughter to raise Moses, Rahab when she protected the Jewish spies in Canaan, Ruth who is named in the lineage of Jesus, King Artaxerxes when he let Nehemiah and other Jews return to Jerusalem after the exile, and so many more. Even Luke, the author of Luke and Acts, was not a Jew. Timothy was not a full Jew either; he was not circumcised as a child. God purpose was to reach Jews first, but the blessings were not limited to them. She knew that if she persisted with faith, Jesus would give her some kind of extra, second blessing.

There are many verses from Psalms that gives us practical holy arguments. Here is a list of verses and a quick explanation:

1. Psalm 4:1, “Answer me when I call, O God of my righteousness! You have given me relief when I was in distress. Be gracious to me and hear my prayer!” David is pleading for God to answer him because in the past God rescued him-based on God’s past performance for David.
2. Psalm 13:3, “Consider and answer me, O Lord, my God; light up my eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death, lest my enemy say, ‘I have prevailed over him,’ lest my foes rejoice because I am shaken.” David asks for God’s help because, otherwise, wicked men will prevail and have success; God doesn’t strive with the wicked.
3. Psalm 35:1, “Contend, O Lord, with those who contend with me; fight against those who fight against me!” God partners with the righteous and opposes the wicked-David is asking for God to fight for him based on his character trait of his loving righteousness and hating evil.
4. Psalm 51:1, “Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions.” David is asking for forgiveness. He appeals to God’s compassion and love. God is a God who forgives if we confess and repent. He cannot not forgive if we do those things.
5. Psalm 83:1-2, “O God, do not keep silence; do not hold your peace or be still, O God! For behold, your enemies make an uproar; those who hate you have raised their heads.” Asaph is crying to God for help in the midst of fighting enemies. God will not be challenged or tested by evil men.
6. Psalm 105:8, “He remembers his covenant forever, the word that he commanded, for a thousand generations.” God remembers what he promises. He has promised surety for those who are in him; we can ask God for that. He has promised joy for those who seek their delight in him; ask him for joy. He has promised comfort to those who are hurting; we can ask for comfort. (The entire chapter 105 of Psalm is about telling of God’s wondering works…we can tell of what God did for the Noah, Moses, David, Elijah, Daniel, Paul, and Peter.)
7. Psalm 115:1, “Not to us, O Lord, not to us, but to your name give glory, for the sake of your steadfast love and your faithfulness.” David appeals to God’s steadfast love and faithfulness to glorify himself. We can apply this to any situation. God will always glorify himself. We can ask for something, but our heart’s motive should be that God is glorified and we receive extreme joy in him. Let not just our mouths say “To Your name give glory” but let our hearts actually mean it with reverence and humility.