Pastor Paul's Blog

Praying Fervently

pastor@kantoplains.org (Paul Loser) — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 13:38:00 +0900

Read Acts 12.

Meditate on the passage answering the following questions:
1. What does this tell me about God and the Lord Jesus Christ?
2. What lesson can I learn from this passage?
3. What particular sin does it warn me against?
4. What verse, phrase or single word can I take with me for the day?

Pray

Today's reading was a very familiar story. Of the many things that I could have noticed (persecution, angels, Peter's astonishment, Rhoda, etc.), the part that stands out to me today was verse 5 and 12. The church was gathered to pray. When was the last time you gathered with the church to pray, let alone pray fervently. Was it when the church was without a pastor? Or, was it when the church was in a financial crisis? Maybe it was when the pastor asked us to pray for the mission team?

I am guessing that my own self was seen in this passage. I am not always in prayer. And I like the church gathered on that occasion don't always believe that God answered the prayer. I think it is that doubt that causes me to value prayer less and less. I have excuses (God's will is going to happen any way. So why pray?)

I wonder if our prayer meetings always had a crisis to pray for would there be more people. Since becoming a pastor, I have had more requests from people to just cancel Wednesday Night Prayer Meeting. I wonder if the guilt of this service being on the schedule and people's inability to attend drives this request, or is it simply we don't have room for prayer so why have a meeting. It is by far the least attended meeting of the church, but does that make it the least important.

I remember prayer meetings as a child. I remember listening to people like Mr. Elliot, my dad, Mr. Cooley, and other men pray from the depths of their souls. I bring my kids to prayer meetings hoping they will hear men and women praying and seeking God's face and will. I wonder if the people that night prayed silently or aloud? Did everyone pray or just those who felt led? Whatever was going on God heard the prayers of those saints. He responded in a way they expected the least. I am guessing they prayed for a fair judge, or Peter's defense of the gospel. I am certain they prayed for his release, but they did not expect it to come this way. I wonder if prayer meetings have become stale because we pray the same things, expecting the same results. What if we are missing God's answer because it isn't our dream.

Pray fervently for your pastor. Pray fervently for your teachers. Pray fervently for your church. Pray fervently for your family. Pray fervently for the lost.

Jesus Standing at the Right Hand of God

pastor@kantoplains.org (Paul Loser) — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 09:37:00 +0900

Read Acts 7.

Meditate on the passage answering the following questions:
1. What does this tell me about God and the Lord Jesus Christ?
2. What lesson can I learn from this passage?
3. What particular sin does it warn me against?
4. What verse, phrase or single word can I take with me for the day?

Pray

As I read today's passage I was overwhelmed with the sense of God's care and intervention in the lives of His people. Stephen shares, with men who know the Bible, the stories of the nation of Israel. How God guided them, protected them, stopped them, allowed them, and overall was in complete control. I think Stephen, full of the Spirit, got it. He wasn't worried about what to say, or how others might perceive what he said, or even whether he hurt people's "feelings". He truly believed God to be in control, and that whatever happened was part of God's plan.

This is not a free license for Christians to say whatever they want. Remember, Stephen was a man full of the Holy Spirit. Sometimes we sin with our words because they are spoken in the flesh and not from the Spirit. I think the best question we can ask is if I say this will I find Christ standing? Or, will He be turning in shame?

Obviously, Stephen spoke nothing that opposed Scripture. He did not beat them, but simply reminded them what they already knew God's word to be saying. I believe they were cut to the quick for the same reason people in sin are cut to the quick when the pastor talks about their particular sin. There are typically two reactions to someone confronting sin. They either turn and repent, or they turn and destroy.

It is my prayer today that God will give me boldness to say the truth. And I pray that God will grant me the strength to stand firm in His word. I need to learn to follow Him and not man. Will you stand for Jesus? He stands for you before the throne of God.

Full of Faith and the Holy Spirit

pastor@kantoplains.org (Paul Loser) — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 13:20:00 +0900

Read Acts 6.

Meditate on the passage answering the following questions:
1. What does this tell me about God and the Lord Jesus Christ?
2. What lesson can I learn from this passage?
3. What particular sin does it warn me against?
4. What verse, phrase or single word can I take with me for the day?

Pray

In today's passage we see the beginning of the deacons (servants, busboys, waiters) of the church. But in light of the questions, one phrase stands out. And it clearly stood out to the writer of Acts because he highlights Stephen. The phrase the stands out is, "a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit,". We then see another phrase describing the same man again in verse 8, "And Stephen, full of grace and power,". This man Stephen was full of faith, the Holy Spirit, grace, and power.

Obviously all of these come from being full of the Holy Spirit. No one could debate him. He appeared like an angel to the Council. He was brought up on false charges based on jealousy and hatred. What I learn about God and life in this passage, is that apart from God there is nothing. The filling of the Spirit in my life, fills it with grace and power. It is a full faith in the Spirit of God.

I know that often I attempt to do more in this like on my own than I ought. In this article I believe Francis Schaeffer gets the problem right. It is often us working in the flesh and not the Spirit. Let us learn to be full of faith and of the Holy Spirit.

O Lord God, I pray not so much for graces as for the Spirit himself, because I feel His absence, and act by own spirit in everything. Give me not weak desires but the power of His presence, for this is the surest way to have all His graces, and when I have the seal I have the impression also; He can heal, help, quicken, humble suddenly and easily, can work grace and life effectually, and being eternal He can give grace eternally.

Save me from great hindrances, from being content with a little measure of the Spirit, from thinking Thou wilt not give me more. When I feel my lack of Him, light up life and faith, for when I lose Thee I am either in the dark and cannot see Thee, or Satan and my natural abilities content me with a little light, so that I seek no further for the Spirit of life.

Teach me then what to do. Should I merely humble myself and not stir up my heart? Should I meditate and use all means to bring Him near, not being contented by one means, but rust Him to give me a blessing by the use of all, depending only upon, and waiting always for, Thy light, by use of means? Is it a duty or an error to pray and look for the fullness of the Spirit in me? Am I mistaken in feeling I am empty of the Spirit because I do not sense His presence within, when all the time I am most empty and could be more full by faith in Christ? Was the fullness of the Spirit in the apostles chiefly a power, giving them subsistence outside themselves in Christ, in whom was their life and joy?

Teach me to find and know fullness of the Spirit only in Jesus.
In Jesus name I pray, Amen.
(The Valley of Vision "God the Spirit", pg 29)