Tag: prayer

40 Days of Prayer Devotionals – Day 2

On By Dr. Casey LewisIn Devotionals2 Comments

Devotional Day 2

Day 2 – Work for the Good of Your City (Jeremiah 29)

Jeremiah 29 provides a copy of Jeremiah’s letter to the exiles after Nebuchadnezzar had been taken from Jerusalem to Babylon. The purpose of Jeremiah’s letter is twofold. First, keep Israel from being apathetic. Second, to keep Israel from being deceived by the prophets and diviners who told them they will return to Jerusalem soon.

Instead of returning soon, Israel would spend seventy years in Babylon. Jeremiah did not want them to waste that time. He writes starting in verse 4:

Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat their produce. Take wives and have sons and daughters; take wives for your sons, and give your daughters in marriage, that they may bear sons and daughters; multiply there, and do not decrease. But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare.

The Challenge

The Bible tells us we are like Israel. We are foreigners and aliens in this world (1 Peter 2:11; Hebrews 13:14). We live in a land that is not our home. Even so, like Israel, we are to work, build, plant, eat, marry, multiple, and seek the welfare of the cities in which we live. Prayer is one way to seek the welfare of our cities.

Starting April 1st you have the opportunity to join us and others for 40 Days of Prayer. During this time, we will focus on praying for the welfare of our cities. We hope to be praying alongside you then.

Resource

If you would like more information about 40 Days of Prayer, including how you can download a PDF copy of the information and link with us on social media, visit our website: sycamoredecatur.com/40DaysofPrayer

40 Days of Prayer Devotionals – Day 1

On By Dr. Casey LewisIn Devotionals2 Comments

Devotional Day 1

Day 1 – The Heart of Moses (Deuteronomy 9)

Deuteronomy 9 puts Moses’ heart front and center. Moses recounts Israel’s history of unfaithfulness despite God’s faithfulness to His covenant promises. Starting with the Golden Calf and continuing with their failure to take the Promised Land, Moses confronts Israel with their idolatry, unfaithfulness, and lack of fear of and trust in God.

The Golden Calf

If you remember, the Lord redeemed Israel from the hand of the Egyptians in the Exodus. A clear indication that He is an all-powerful God worthy to be worshipped. Instead of recognizing God’s power and worshipping the One True God, Israel fashioned a Golden Calf and bowed down to it.

The Failure to Take the Promised Land

If confronting them with their idolatry was not enough, Moses also reminds Israel of their failure to trust and fear God. God had promised them and their forefathers – Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob – a land of their own possession. At the site of it’s inhabitants, Israel shrunk back. Instead of trusting God to provide military victory, they feared the people.

Forty Days of Prayer

After each failure, Moses prostrated himself 40 days before the Lord for the people. Why intercede for a rebellious people, asking the Lord to preserve them?

Moses did so because he loved and cared for them. He desired they experience the Lord’s blessings. As well as he was zealous for God’s glory. For those reasons, Moses twice spent forty days and nights in prayer for the nation of Israel.

The Challenge

Shouldn’t we care for and love those in our nation? Shouldn’t that love drive us to our knees praying the Lord would change their hearts? We think so. For that reason, we want to challenge you to intercede for your nation, your state, your city, your community, your neighbors, your church family and your immediate family. Won’t you join us as we first ask God to change our hearts to be more like Moses’ and then by interceding in prayer for those around us from April 1st – May 10th?

Resource

If you would like more information about 40 Days of Prayer, including how you can download a PDF copy of the information and link with us on social media, visit our website: sycamoredecatur.com/40DaysofPrayer

Pray, Love, and Serve: Moses’ Example

On By Dr. Casey LewisIn Leadership, Pastoral3 Comments

Pray Love Serve Cross

How do you react when those in your church, family, circle of friends, or community act contrary to God’s Word? Do you throw up your hands and give up? Do you brow beat them? Or do you lovingly correct, pray for, and serve them?

Last night at Bible Study, we briefly discussed Deuteronomy 9. It is Moses’ reminder to the people why God is giving them the Promised Land. He wants to make it clear it is not because of their righteousness. Rather it is because the Lord wishes to drive the wickedness out of the land and honor His promise to their fathers – Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (4-6). To show the stubbornness of the people, Moses recounts the story of the Golden Calf and their failure to take the land.

The Golden Calf

After spending forty days and nights on the mountain with God receiving the Ten Commandments, Moses comes down to find the people worshipping an idol – a Golden Calf. The same people who just witnessed the great power of God in the Exodus. The same people the Lord just redeemed as His own possession. The same people who watched Moses ascend to the top of the mountain to commune with God. In just forty short days and nights, they forgot the Lord and turned to worship an idol.

The Failure to Take the Land

The second story Moses recounts is their failure to trust the Lord to give them the land. If you remember, they sent spies into the land. After gathering the requested items, they returned with a daunting report. Those in the land are giants and too numerous for us to overtake. Again, they forgot the power of their God, even as He was providing for them in the wilderness and telling them He would give them the land.

Moses’ Example

Talk about being frustrated. I am sure Moses was livid, in a righteous way of course. His actions though are surprising and act as an example for us. Yes, Moses corrected the people, but he also interceded for them and continued to serve them.

Why would he do a thing like that? Why intercede for them asking the Lord to preserve them when they were blatantly rebellious?

He did so because he loved and cared for them. Even though they were rebellious, he desired they experience the blessings of the Lord, worship the Lord, and glorify the Lord. For those reasons, Moses twice spent forty days and nights prostrate before the Lord in prayer, continually corrected and served them.

The Challenge

Do you love those in your church, family, circle of friends, or community enough to seek their welfare? Do you desire to reach out to them with the gospel? Do you desire to pray the Lord would not destroy them, but change their hearts and make them His? Do you serve them in a way that shows the love of Jesus? I know those are tough questions, but they are crucial questions.

If we find we do not love those around us in a way that causes us to reach out to them with the gospel, pray for them, and serve them, we need to get on our knees and ask that God would change our hearts.

Moses did not manufacture his love for the people. God changed his heart as he communed with Him. Likewise, as we commune with God through prayer and Bible study, He will change our heart.

So then, if you are having trouble loving, praying for, and serving those in your community, open His Word and seek His face in prayer, asking that He would change your heart.

Question for Reflection

  1. How could you motivate those in your church to reach out to, serve, and pray for those in your community?

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Gospel Witness through Community Unity

On By Dr. Casey LewisIn Church Life, Practical5 Comments

Church in the City

John 17 is known as Jesus’ High Priestly Prayer. He prays that:

  1. The Father would glorify Him in His mission (1-3).
  2. The Father would return Him to glory at the end of His mission (4-8).
  3. The Father would protect His representatives in the world (9-15).
  4. His representatives would be holy in the world (16-19).
  5. His representatives would be unified as they are on mission (20-23).
  6. His disciples would join Him in glory (24).
  7. His disciples would live and act as He did when He was in the world (25-26).

Seven things he prays in His High Priestly Prayer. I want us to focus in on His fifth petition. It comes in verses 20-23.

Let’s read verse 20:

“I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word,

Throughout history the gospel has been spread, people have believed and passed that message on, and that process has continued all the way up to today, making believers along the way, including many of you reading this right now. With that in mind, the first thing this verse reveals is that Jesus prays not only for His current disciples, but also for us.

The second thing this verse reveals is that Jesus’ disciples are to be on His mission. What does that mission involve? It involves making disciples. How do we best go about calling others to be Jesus’ disciples? The remainder of His fifth petition gives us an idea.

How do we make disciples?

Disciples are made primarily through our verbal witness. The proclamation of the gospel tells others of the hope that is in us. Proclamation, however, is not all that is required. Disciples are also made through our community witness. How? Let’s look at verse 21.

that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me.

We act as a witness to the gospel by the way we relate to one another. Why? Verse 22 and 23a hold the answer.

The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one,

Two things we see here:

(1) True unity requires heart change.

Change which only occurs by the gospel piercing our hearts.

(2) True heart change through the gospel allows us to image or reflect the Trinity for the first time ever.

Imaging the Trinity means that we love one another as the Father loves the Son and the Son loves the Father. It also means that we will be unified with one another as the Father and Son are unified.

The unity we show by imaging the Trinity allows us to act as a witness to the world for the gospel. Look a the remainder of verse 23.

so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me.

When we are unified with one another, we not only give credence to our verbal witness, but we also act as a witness to a completely different way of life. Life that can only be lived through true heart change by the gospel.

So then, our community witness speaks just as our verbal witness does. One cannot be had without the other. If the community is not unified, then their verbal witness will not hold much weight. If a community doesn’t give a verbal witness, then those around them will not know why they are different. Both need to be present.

Unity takes work

Unity doesn’t come without work. Jesus knows that, which is why He prays His disciples would be unified. The work it requires though is worth it because it allows us to accomplish our mission in the world.

How do we become unified?

(1) We must first allow the gospel to pierce our hearts.

The gospel must change our hearts from a heart of stone to one that is gripped by the gospel.

(2) After that has taken place, we must continue to reflect on the gospel. 

The love Jesus showed us by dying for us must constantly be preached to ourselves. Reminding ourselves of His love, should spur a desire in us to love others in the same way Christ loved us, selflessly.

If everyone in the community selflessly loves one another, we will see a unity, a oneness, we, or this world, has never known before.

Challenge

So let’s love each other like we have never loved each other before, so that we may experience unity as we have never seen before, so that we may be a witness to our community for Christ. That is Jesus’ prayer, and that is my prayer as well.

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Praise God in Prayer

On By Dr. Casey LewisIn Practical4 Comments

This last April I attended the Together for the Gospel Conference (T4G). While I was there I picked up several free books and resources. One of which was Ligonier Ministries’ Table Talk. It has been several months since the conference, and I am just now getting around to reviewing all the material I brought back.

This morning I was reading through the April edition of Table Talk. As I did I came across an article on Prayer by Derek W. H. Thomas. What he has to say is challenging, as well as insightful and helpful in teaching us how to pray.

His Challenge

He starts by challenging our current idea of prayer,

We’ve all had those annoying conversations that have been entirely one-sided, showing little or no interest in us. It’s all about them – their interests, desires, needs, and complaints. Prayer can get like that: we pour out our woes, become totally self-absorbed, and show no interest in dialogue that involves “listening” to what God has to say. God is patient and, in His grace, He responds. But it shouldn’t be like that. When Jesus taught us to pray, He showed us that prayer begins (and continues) with God.

I believe he is right. For many, prayer is nothing more than us asking God to do something, and that something usually doesn’t involve building us spiritually either. It typically involves Him healing us of some physical ailment. Now, it is not wrong to pray for our own or others medical needs, but that should not dominate our requests.

Thomas continues by saying,

“At least half of our praying should be addressed to the praise and worship of God.”

Have you ever thought about prayer in that way? Have you ever thought half of your praying should be to praise and worship God? Taking it even further, do you praise and worship God in your prayers at all? I think if we are honest with ourselves, we would find that most of us don’t.

How do we remedy the problem?

Thomas helps by offering some things for us to think about before giving us 5 practical steps.

Person

If we are going to praise and worship God in prayer, we need to know who God is and what He is like. How do we come to find that out? Studying His Word, of course.

When we do, we find that God is self-existent, self-sustaining, self-determining, everywhere present, and always in control. We also learn that He is our Father. What does that tell us? It tells us that we have unhindered access to Him personally. In addition, we learn God is holy, gracious, and merciful in His Word.

How do we connect our knowledge about who God is and what He is like to our prayer life? We praise Him.

Praise

Now that we know more about who God is and what He is like, when we pray, we should praise God for who He is. That is exactly what the Psalmist does, and that is what we should do as well.

Before we leave this section, let me make a distinction. Praising God and thanking God are two different things.

What is the difference?

  • Prayers of thanks often focus on us – We thank God for what He has given us.
  • Prayers of praise focus on God – We praise Him for who He is and what He is like.

Presence

When we pray, we should not pray like the hypocrite, just seeking outward recognition. Rather, we must recognize prayer for what it is – our entering into the presence of God. This means our prayers should be reverent and not self-seeking.

If we truly want to praise God in our prayer life, we must refrain from praying, just to make ourselves look good, or to check it off of our daily list. We must realize that when we pray we enter into the very throne room of our Almighty Father in Heaven.

Practice

Thomas finishes his article by giving us a five step strategy that will help us keep our prayers God-centered.

(1) Remind Yourself that there is only one God in the universe, and that you are not Him.

(2) Adoration Comes First, before confession, thanksgiving, or supplication. Worship the Lord in your praying.

(3) Read a Psalm before you pray, and attempt to emulate what you find: a preoccupation with God in all His multifacted nature. Find psalms of joy or grief, praise or lament, and note how the psalmist spends time with God, making Him the center of his thoughts and desires.

(4). Learn to Love God’s Names so that saying and repeating them fills you with an inexpressible joy, a reminder of who He is and His covenant faithfulness to you in the gospel of His grace.

(5) Learn to “Wait” upon the Lord. Watch how the psalmist, “fainting” as he thinks of his own troubles, finds relief by deliberately focusing on great things God has done.

Conclusion

I challenge you to become more familiar with who God is and what He is like by making notes as you read through His Word. Ask yourself when you finish your daily devotional: What did I learn about God today? Then praise God for who He is the next time you pray to Him. By doing so, hopefully our prayers will remain God-centered and not man-centered.

Questions for Reflection

  1. After reading this article, how does your prayer life relate? Do you typically pray about physical needs? Or do you spend time praising God for who He is?
  2. Would you share how praising God in your prayers has changed your appreciation for who He is and what He has done for you?

Resources

Post adapted from Prayer by Derek W.H. Thomas, Table Talk, April 2012, 14-17.

How Should the Church Pray For One Another?

On By Dr. Casey LewisIn Church Life, PracticalLeave a comment

In my devotional time this morning, I read through Colossians 1:1-14. As I read and meditated on God’s Word, Paul’s prayer for the Colossians struck me. It made me ask myself,

“Do I pray for my congregation, friends, and family in the way Paul prayed for the Colossians?”

If I am honest, I have to answer sometimes but not all the time. It is not because I don’t pray, but because I don’t always know what to pray. If you are like me, you probably don’t always know what to pray for others either.

Paul’s Prayer for the Colossians

In Paul’s prayer for the Colossians, he models for us how we should pray for others. Let’s look at the content of his prayer. He prays the Colossians would be:

  • Filled with the knowledge of God’s will, which they gain from spiritual wisdom and understanding.
  • Walk in a manner worthy of God so as to fully please Him.
  • Bear fruit in every good work.
  • Increase in the knowledge of God.
  • Be strengthened with power for endurance and patience.
  • That they would endure and be patient with an attitude of joy.
  • Give thanks to the Father for saving them through the sacrifice of His Son.

Pastor, congregant, friends, and family members, these are the things we should be praying for one another. Health concerns are important, and we should lift those up to the Lord, but we should also pray for others to grow spiritually, bear fruit, endure and be patient, and increase in their knowledge of God.

Challenge

Next time you sit down to pray, take this list with you, and pray the content of it for those you know.

Questions for Reflection

  1. How often do you pray for one another?
  2. What do your prayers consist of? Are they mainly health related? Or do you pray for spiritual growth in others as well?

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