God Directs Us To Intercede Through Prayer!
Reading: Job 38 - 42
My Verse: "And my servant Job shall pray for you, for I will accept his prayer not to deal with you according to your folly. For you have not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Job has. So Eliphaz the Temanite and Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the Naamathite went and did what the LORD had told them, and the LORD accepted Job's prayer" (42:8,9).
I think this is just fascinating! Now, I wonder, why does God direct Job to intercede for his friends? Why could he not just accept their own prayers? Earlier He says to Job's friends, "My anger burns against you . . . for you have not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Job has." They had committed a most awful sin, that of not speaking rightly of You LORD God. And because they did that You could not, would not deal directly with them. They needed someone who was in right fellowship with You to intercede for them! And in this case that was Job!
So many think prayer is silly and useless. And yet most people, when finding themselves in dire circumstances, turn to prayer. I really like what C.S. Lewis says on prayer.
"Pascal says that God 'instituted prayer in order to allow His creatures the dignity of causality'. It would perhaps be truer to say that He invented both prayer and physical action for that purpose. He gave us small creatures the dignity of being able to contribute to the course of events in two different ways. He made the matter of the universe such that we can (in those limits) do things to it; that is why we can wash our own hands and feed or murder our fellow creatures. Similarly, He made His own plan or plot of history such that it admits a certain amount of free play and can be modified in response to our prayers. If it is foolish and impudent to ask for victory in a war (on the ground that God might be expected to know best), it would be equally foolish and impudent to put on a mackintosh - does not God know best whether you ought to be wet or dry?"
Prayer is to be constant. "Be constant in prayer" (Romans 12:12)
We are to pray for our own needs. "Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray" (James 5:13).
We are to pray for others. "Peter was kept in prison, but earnest prayer for him was made to God by the church" (Acts 12:5)
Thank You, LORD God for this reminder of the importance of prayer!
Ditat Deus - God Enriches!
Reading: Job 38 - 42
My Verse: "And my servant Job shall pray for you, for I will accept his prayer not to deal with you according to your folly. For you have not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Job has. So Eliphaz the Temanite and Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the Naamathite went and did what the LORD had told them, and the LORD accepted Job's prayer" (42:8,9).
I think this is just fascinating! Now, I wonder, why does God direct Job to intercede for his friends? Why could he not just accept their own prayers? Earlier He says to Job's friends, "My anger burns against you . . . for you have not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Job has." They had committed a most awful sin, that of not speaking rightly of You LORD God. And because they did that You could not, would not deal directly with them. They needed someone who was in right fellowship with You to intercede for them! And in this case that was Job!
So many think prayer is silly and useless. And yet most people, when finding themselves in dire circumstances, turn to prayer. I really like what C.S. Lewis says on prayer.
"Pascal says that God 'instituted prayer in order to allow His creatures the dignity of causality'. It would perhaps be truer to say that He invented both prayer and physical action for that purpose. He gave us small creatures the dignity of being able to contribute to the course of events in two different ways. He made the matter of the universe such that we can (in those limits) do things to it; that is why we can wash our own hands and feed or murder our fellow creatures. Similarly, He made His own plan or plot of history such that it admits a certain amount of free play and can be modified in response to our prayers. If it is foolish and impudent to ask for victory in a war (on the ground that God might be expected to know best), it would be equally foolish and impudent to put on a mackintosh - does not God know best whether you ought to be wet or dry?"
Prayer is to be constant. "Be constant in prayer" (Romans 12:12)
We are to pray for our own needs. "Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray" (James 5:13).
We are to pray for others. "Peter was kept in prison, but earnest prayer for him was made to God by the church" (Acts 12:5)
Thank You, LORD God for this reminder of the importance of prayer!
Ditat Deus - God Enriches!
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