Sunday Devotional

For this Sunday's thoughts on prayer and provision read this piece which was written three years ago.  Be sure to read the comments, for the conversation may be more powerful than the article. --vanilla

God's Mercy

Peace in Jesus

Scripture in both Testaments seems to me to indicate that while God is the creator and sustainer of all things He is not Santa Claus. 

The vaunted Wise Man who penned Ecclesiastes put it this way:   "I returned, and saw under the sun, that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favor to men of skill; but time and chance happens to them all." (9:11)

The wisest of all men, Jesus the Christ, gave us these words recorded by Matthew: "That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he makes his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust." (5:45)

I do not wish to engage in any disputation with the good people who adhere to the "Name it and claim it" theology that is espoused from many pulpits today, but I believe our petitions must be centered in God's will and design.  Then why do we pray?  It is praise, honor and adoration to our heavenly Father; it is communion and communication with God.  As we pray we will find God's will revealed for us in our circumstances.

Then, one might ask, what of Jesus's words "Ask and you shall receive"?  Listen further to his words:
" These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world."  (John 16:33)

The key:  Peace in Jesus Christ as we pass through this world of tribulation on our way to the Heavenly Kingdom!  Hallelujah!

Move Along Now

Many scoffers deride those who pray.  “God does not answer prayer.  Do not think that your petitions will sway the Lord.”

I submit that God does answer prayer.  The answer is sometimes delayed, and it is sometimes “No.”  A case in point is related in the third chapter of Deuteronomy when Moses inveigles the Lord to allow him to enter the Promised Land.  Moses tells of God’s response in these words. 

^“ But the Lord was wroth with me for your sakes, and would not hear me: and the Lord said unto me, Let it suffice thee; speak no more unto me of this matter.”

And thus the Lord answered Moses’s prayer not only with “No,” but also with an injunction for Moses to shut up about it.

Do we ever get on a personal hobby horse pleading with God to assist us in seeing an issue come to fruition?  Do we sometimes get a definite “No” from the Lord and yet persist in pestering Him about the issue?  God loves us and knows what is good for us and He will give us the desires of our hearts so long as our hearts are attuned to His will, not our own.

Moses surveys the Promised

 Land from the mountain top.

It's a Dog's Life

and a totally uninhibited lifestyle it is, too.

"Dog" or "dogs" referenced forty-nine times in the Holy Bible.  The one that I most enjoy and appreciate is found in the seventh chapter of Mark.  (Matthew also gives an account of the incident.) A gentile woman, having heard of Jesus, and having a daughter that is possessed of an evil spirit, seeks Jesus out and asks for his favor in banishing the spirit.

Now Jesus, being a Jew, and devout, tells her that it is not right that dogs should eat before the children are fed.

Truth, Master, she said.  But even the dogs eat of the crumbs the children drop under the table.

Jesus, taking note of her faith, said, For this saying, go your way, your daughter is no longer afflicted.

It was not lost on the Syrophoenician woman that she was being likened to a dog, if not being called a dog.  Which of us would not resent such treatment, and that in a public venue?  But she was on a mission, a mission which she would not allow to be thwarted by hurt feelings or resentment.  Rather, she, in clear deference and in complete agreement with Jesus's assessment, pressed her case further, and her petition was granted.

Fits Like a Glove

Every night when I begin to pray

I ask the Lord to help me say

How sorry I am, for mistakes I made

As I went about my busy day.

I ask for the will to forgive

Other people with whom I live

When others hurt me thoughtlessly

That I won't repay revengefully.

To help me do my best in every way

And look to God, He will repay

So many times I need some love

And His love always fits like a glove.

1 Peter 4:8: And above all things have fervent charity among yourselves: for charity shall cover the multitude of sins.  (KJV)

Gifts From God, Grace JoAnn Harrison Lacy, copyright 1995, 2014.  By permission of the author.