God is moved by our prayers

Today I opened up the Bible after a long while and I was glad that I did. My passage was in 2 Samuel 24, a passage that is about God's anger at David for numbering the people of the land.

At first I was intrigued by why did God punish Israel when, (1) He incited David to number the people, and (2) it was David who sinned and yet the innocent people of Israel died in the pestilence. I still don't have the answers to my 2 questions, but verse 1 of the passage, "the anger of the Lord burned against Israel" gave
some clues that it was for the sins of Israel, and He incited David to do the first steps.

Though I do not know the exact nature of the sins, I do know from the passage that God is merciful. He will relent from punishments when we pray. Three things stood out for me about God here.(1) He does punish - He is a God of justice. (2) When punishing He will relent from it - He is merciful. (3) God can be "moved by prayer" v25. It is important to pray as God does move and be moved when we pray.

This passage reminds me afresh that I should pray. It can and does work.

One question that I asked myself, 'Since prayers do work, what is ONE thing you want to ask for in 2012?'

I prayed for a turn around in attitudes for myself, my spouse and my children. A good turn around from the many inadequate attitudes that stumbled us in 2011, so that we can move anew in this coming new year.

Pray. It works!

Jesus and Prayer

Once a while, I review my old devotional journals. Today, I came across one that struck me. It was dated 28 Apr 2009 on a familiar passage of Jesus in Mark 1:35,  "Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed"

It is one of those passages that embarrassed us about our own state of prayer versus Jesus'. He was working very hard the day before, and yet He got up early in the morning to pray. Prayer is definitely very important to Jesus, otherwise He would not do so. For me, tiredness would usually mean a rest from prayer so that I can rest - but not so for Jesus.

Another thought that stood out for me is that even Jesus need to pray. We would have thought that Jesus need not pray, being the Son of God with all the powers of heaven at His disposal. Yet He did, and perhaps, wanted to pray. Here I see prayer as not so much of coming to God with a list of request, but to come to God in fellowship and devotion. Prayer is that, where we seek the face of God and not just the hand of God to do things for us.

Jesus also made time for prayer in the midst of His busy schedule. When was the last time that I schedule time for prayer? Yes, perhaps in my younger days. I would need to do so again now.

I was reminded that the early Church Fathers had a 7 day prayer focus to help them in prayers.
Sunday - Pray against Pride; may God bless us with Humility
Monday - Pray against Envy; may God bless us with Kindness
Tuesday - Pray against Anger; may God bless us with Patience
Wednesday - Pray against Apathy; may God bless us with Diligence
Thursday - Pray against Greed; may God bless us with Generosity
Friday - Pray against Gluttony; may God bless us with Abstinence
Saturday - Pray against Lust;may God bless us with Chastity
Note: the "may God bless us with..." is from my church pastor and not from the early Church Fathers.

May we do something today about our prayer life again.

4 Kinds of Prayers

I came across this article on CEFC Facebook Notes page and thought it worth reproducing for those who may missed out on such a good article. Enjoy and pray!

1) “Give Me” Prayers

These are our prayers that go something like “Lord, I need (fill in the blank), please give me ...”, or “God, I really want (fill in the blank), please give me ... ”

It could be a promotion at work, a place for your child in that top school, a life partner, etc.