Category Archives: Prayer

A Lesson in Grief

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Grief generally comes at some point in our lives here on earth.  It may come early or late, often or seldom.  It can feel solitary and overwhelming.  We don’t get over the loss of someone, but we have to learn to live with that loss.  How do I live with the loss, if I haven’t been taught?  I read in 1 Thessalonians 4:13 that we don’t grieve as others do that have no hope.  I have hope, yet I still grieve.  I still feel the pain of loss. So I pray for God to comfort me, to lessen my pain.  Lessen my pain, so that I may have the courage to live life again.  Where can I find more comfort than in God’s word?  God has written “…all things that pertain to life”.  So I search, that I may apply and live.

(Isa 41:10)  Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.

(Psa 73:26)  My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.

My heart may feel like it has failed, my soul like it has been ripped open, but God is the strength of my heart and I know that all things are possible with Him.  He will give me strength to endure.

(Num 20:29)  And when all the congregation saw that Aaron had perished, all the house of Israel wept for Aaron thirty days.

 

The people of Israel wept for thirty days upon the deaths of Moses and Aaron on two separate occasions.  Reading through the Old Testament makes it seem that they were constantly tearing their clothes and putting on sackcloth and ashes.  Did I take the time for weeping and mourning?  What is enough time?  Am I concealing what I see as unpleasant and uncontrolled emotion and succumbing to depression and anxiety? Do I grieve in silence, or do I share my grief and let God’s children comfort me?  Have I let the world dictate how I should grieve or have I looked at how God’s people have grieved?

(Ecc 3:1-4)  For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven: a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted; a time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance;

There IS a time to die, a time to break down, a time to weep and a time to mourn.  And that may be the time I am living in right now.  But there is also a time to heal and a time to build myself up.  And that time will come.  In the midst of pain, it’s hard to even consider the time of laughter and dancing.  Trust that God will give me that time again.

(Php 3:13-14)  Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

Sometimes it feels impossible to forget what lies behind, especially painful memories.  Reading this passage with grief in mind gives me hope of comfort.  Yes, we are always to strive for our eternal prize, but immersing ourselves in spiritual things and thoughts gives us more strength not to forget, but lessen the pain and sorrow of this life so that we may continue to press on to our eternal goal.

(Psa 119:50)  This is my comfort in my affliction, that your promise gives me life.

(Psa 119:92)  If your law had not been my delight, I would have perished in my affliction.

(Rev 21:4)  He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”

God’s promise endures if we will accept it.  Can we find the comfort in the midst of our grief to know that it will not endure?  God has promised us eternal life, a life with no more tears or mourning or pain.  Yet in this promise, we see that there is a time for crying and mourning.  It is not a weakness, or a lack of faith that we will see our loved ones again.  God’s people mourn as a natural expression of the love that we have for each other when the object of that love is now gone from this life.  The pain of loss will eventually turn into the comfort of healing.

God instructs us to pray and petition Him with our requests.  What other time do we need the peace of God to guard our hearts and minds more, than when they are consumed by grief? We may see our loved ones again, but it still hurts now.  We may feel alone, but God is there.  We may be in the time of mourning, but we can take comfort in the fact that one day will be the time for healing.  It might not be today, and it might not be tomorrow, but it WILL come.  And one day, when our pain is not so great, we may need to reach down and bring it back out to help someone else find their way into the time of healing.

 

By Terry McMurray

Let All The Earth Keep Silence

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“But the Lord is in his holy temple: let all the earth keep silence before him” (Habakkuk 2:20).

How often have we heard these words read or sung at the beginning of a service? The silence enjoined by Habakkuk is not a literal silence but the silence of submission and acceptance which would not dare to voice any question or complaint against God.

There is, however, great value in literal silence—a value our generation may well have forgotten. In these days of roaring traffic, noisy factories, humming household appliances and megawatt stereos, an unexpected moment of silence can be almost frightening. The first option we demand for our automobiles is a radio/cassette player; and people going to the mountains or the seashore for a picnic seem more concerned about getting their ghetto blasters or portable TVs than they are about the sandwiches. One thing to be said for many of these people is that they are generous enough to share their sound with everyone within a mile’s radius. With all due respect, however, I think I prefer the selfish kind who, while walking, running or cycling, get their necessary sound fromthose little earphones that allow the rest of us to make our own selfish choices of what we want to hear—or not hear.

All of this lust for sound has even carried over into worship: we want sermons delivered with machine-gun rapidity and prayers prayed without a moment’s pause for thought. The silence during the Lord’s Supper has become so unbearable to some that they have eliminated it with live or recorded singing. Our generation would have been miserable in heaven when there was silence “for about half an hour” (Revelation 8:1).

Silence is the natural effect of many commendable emotions: awe, humility, controlled anger, sympathy, a stricken conscience, and reverence, as well as the submission and acceptance of superior wisdom advised in Habakkuk 2:20. Even love may be expressed by silence. Someone has said that the depth of a friendship may be measured by the time two individuals can be comfortable with no word exchanged. Our aversion to silence may reveal the scarcity of some of these qualities.

Silence increases objectivity as we escape the clamor of emotional appeals and subjective arguments and evaluate the real substance of things we have heard. Crooked salesmen do not like silence.

In a special way, silence seems to remind us of the presence of God. It is not in the city that Christians most often remark on the certainty of a creator; rather it is on a mountain peak, far above the noise below, where the stillness is broken only by sounds of God’s creation.

Silence allows us to hear the voice of the Spirit—not in some miraculous way, but through reflection upon the law of God which we have laid up in our hearts (Psalms 119:11) and upon which we “meditate day and night” (Psalms 1:2). Meditation is best without distracting noise.

Because of these qualities, silence may often be used effectively to calm bitterness and to avoid polarization of individuals in disagreement. The Quakers have become known as peerless mediators in numerous types of conflict; and periods of silence are among their favorite devices.

Most of us talk too much and are too rushed to be successful as peacemakers.

Silence is an excellent tool in personal evangelism. A period of quiet reflection after the reading of a scripture gives the student time to reach his own conclusions about its message. It is amazing how effective the Holy Spirit can be in revealing truth to one whose mind is uncluttered by the explanations of “teachers.”

Silence can encourage decisions. Once, talking to a couple who had been attending services for many years, I was urging their obedience. As usual, they said they needed a little more time. “How much time do you need?” I asked. “You have had 20 years.” Silence followed. They said nothing. I said nothing. I determined that I would not speak until they did. The silence lengthened. It became almost embarrassing—it seemed so long. But it was finally broken when he said, “I’m ready; let’s go.” They died not long after that—saved by a decision which was spurred, not by what was said but by what was not said. I learned that there is, indeed, “a time to keep silence” (Ecclesiastes 3:7).

Silence facilitates private prayer. Perhaps it was a quest for such silence which led Jesus, rather often, to rise a long while before day to go out into a solitary place to pray. If He sought it, so should we.

 

By Sewell Hall

Is Thanksgiving Ever Over?

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“We give thanks to God always for all of you” (1 Thess. 1:2).

“Sing praise to the Lord, you His godly ones, and give thanks to His holy name” (Psalm 30:4).

Thanksgiving is associated with a holiday in America. It is found in the same breath as other holiday terms like food, pie, turkey, football, pie, and more food (given that each family’s tradition differs a bit, the generic “food” will have to do). Then we think of it as being over. I wonder how many enjoy the holiday of Thanksgiving without actually being thankful to God for what they have and enjoy. It should be about the food only insofar as the partaker is grateful to God for the rich blessings.

For the child of God, thanksgiving is not so much a holiday as a way of life. Thanksgiving is never over. The attitude should never be about one time of year: “Rejoice always; pray without ceasing; in everything give thanks; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus” (1 Thess 5:16-18); “…always giving thanks for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God, even the Father…” (Eph 5:20); “…singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God. Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father” (Col 3:16-17); “De

Devote yourselves to prayer, keeping alert in it with an attitude of thanksgiving” (Col 4:2); “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God” (Phil 4:6); “For the ministry of this service is not only fully supplying the needs of the saints, but is also overflowing through many thanksgivings to God” (2 Cor 9:12); “Through Him then, let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that give praise to His name” (Heb. 13:15). Do we get the point?

A survey of thankfulness in Scripture reveals its association with prayer. A stronger prayer life will mean a stronger sense and attitude of thanksgiving to God. A weaker prayer life puts us in danger of forgetting about the source of our blessings. The worst scenario is described by Paul in Romans as he writes about those who, though they knew God, did not honor Him as God or give thanks and so became futile in their thinking (Rom 1:21). The ungrateful spirit is connected to other undesirable characteristics: lovers of self and money, boastful and arrogant, disobedient, unholy, unloving and malicious, etc. (see 2 Tim 3:1-5). The connection should be clear. When we think of God, we should be filled with a sense of awe and thankfulness. Children of God ought to know how often they should think of God. God is good, not just at certain times of the year, but always. “Give thanks to the Lord for He is good; for His lovingkindness is everlasting” (Psalm 118:1; cf. Psalm 100). Everlasting lovingkindness deserves our everlasting thanksgiving.

“Give thanks to the LORD, for He is good … Give thanks to the God of gods … Give thanks to the Lord of lords, for His loving kindness is everlasting” (Psalm 136:1-3).

Paul’s devotion to thanksgiving is evident in his epistles. Most of them begin with some sort of thanksgiving (Rom., 1-2 Cor., Eph., Phil., Col., 1-2 Thess., 1-2 Tim., Titus, Philemon). Paul kept his readers constantly aware of the source of their blessings, reminding us once again that thanksgiving is not a holiday, but a way of life.

The spirit of the child of God is captured well in this great messianic passage from Isaiah:

Then you will say on that day, “I will give thanks to You, O LORD; For although You were angry with me, Your anger is turned away, And You comfort me. Behold, God is my salvation, I will trust and not be afraid; For the LORD GOD is my strength and song, And He has become my salvation.” Therefore you will joyously draw water From the springs of salvation. And in that day you will say, “Give thanks to the LORD, call on His name. Make known His deeds among the peoples; Make them remember that His name is exalted.” Praise the LORD in song, for He has done excellent things; Let this be known throughout the earth. Cry aloud and shout for joy, O inhabitant of Zion, For great in your midst is the Holy One of Israel. (Isa. 12:1-6 NAU)

Think about this passage for a few minutes, then reflect on what we should be thankful for. Is thanksgiving over for you?

“But I will sacrifice to You with the voice of thanksgiving. That which I have vowed I will pay. Salvation is from the LORD” (Jonah 2:9).

“Amen, blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might, be to our God forever and ever. Amen” (Rev 7:12).

Article by Doy Moyer