Prayer

Exodus 22:28
“You shall not revile God, nor curse a ruler of your people.”

The purpose of Israel’s time at Mount Sinai was to develop as a nation upon the foundation stone of the Word of God. Moses went up the mountain alone, and came down the mountain with clear and detailed instructions from heaven regarding how the people should live. These instructions are referred to simply as “The Law” and can be divided into three groups. The Moral Law is a list of unchanging standards God set upon mankind. The Religious Law was designed to instruct the people regarding relationship with God, and the Civil Law was created to keep order. Since God was forming this traveling band into a nation, it would be necessary to also establish leadership, and because of the nature of men, it would not be long before the people would begin to complain about those who are in charge. Knowing this was coming, God declares,

Exodus 22:28
“You shall not revile God, nor curse a ruler of your people.”

Simply put, God made it illegal for the people to curse their rulers. This is not because the rulers would always prove to be faultless, nor did it mean they were above the law, or their actions could not be questioned. In fact, God always puts a higher standard on rulers, than he does on the rest of the people. What this law was designed to do was point out the folly of sitting around complaining about those who are in charge.

Instead of grousing about our leaders, the laws, or the direction the nation is heading, the Bible gives us a far more productive way to handle poor leadership, and a declining culture. God instructs us to pray for our leadership, and to infiltrate culture with the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

I wonder what would happen, if we took half the time we spent complaining about the condition of our nation, and invested that time in prayer and seeking effective ways to bring the Gospel message to others.

Pastor Jim

Genesis 25:21-22
“Now Isaac pleaded with the Lord for his wife, because she was barren; and the Lord granted his plea, and Rebekah his wife conceived. But the children struggled together within her; and she said, ‘If all is well, why am I like this?’ So she went to inquire of the Lord.”

2015/01/img_1325.jpg Have you ever heard the phrase, “When all else fails”? This seems to be the approach of many, as it relates to prayer. We often try everything at our disposal, before we ever come to the place where we truly plead with the Lord. It is almost as if life were a game show. We lean on our own strength, or use one of our life lines to ask the audience, or phone a friend, instead of taking advantage of the greatest resource available to every child of God – prayer.

Jesus made many promises that would be utterly preposterous if He were not Divine. One of those is when He declared;

John 14:14
“If you ask anything in My name, I will do it.”

The context in which Jesus made this statement makes it very clear, He is not suggesting He is a heavenly Genie who will succumb to our every whim. He is making an amazing promise, which is all too often disregarded by His followers. Jesus is promising that whatever we might be facing in life, we can cry out to Him and He will have a solution.

Here, in Genesis 25, Isaac and Rebekah were facing difficulty; she was barren. When she finally conceived, she knew there was something wrong with the pregnancy. Marital and family matters were solved for them by seeking the Lord.

Whatever you are facing, it is time to follow the example set by this ancient couple, and cry out to God for assistance, direction, intervention, guidance or strength.

Pastor Jim