Category Archives: Faith

Pray with the Sovereign Lord

Isaiah 50:4  The Sovereign LORD has given me …

Prayer

Pray with the Sovereign Lord – a California sunset

Proverbs 9:10 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.

What does it mean to fear the Lord, it means to recognize Him as the sovergn God who rules over all things. He created the universe out of nothing, He designed DNA and everything about us. He decided when we will be born into this world, and He decides the day we leave. He decides a lot of things we cannot even touch. He holds the calendar with the dates of our birth and death, who are parents will be, what city we are born, and what century.

God owns the universe and spoke it into being.  What ever He says is significant, so we should listen. God has the ability to do anything He wants to and no one can stop Him.

God is real, He exists, He is alive. God works and God acts.

This Bible verse is from proverbs, which is about wisdom. Actually in this book of the Bible wisdom is personified. And then in the New Testament we learn that Christ is the wisdom of God.  1 Corinthians 1:30 It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God–that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption?

Daniel 5:21 … the Most High God is sovereign over the kingdoms of men and sets over them anyone he wishes. So pray with the sovereign Lord.

Prayer is Connecting with God

Prayer is connecting with God in reality.

Prayer is connecting with God


Prayer is connecting with God – a river in Oregon

But prayer is hard without the Spirit.  In John 4, Jesus says “God is Spirit and they that worship (pray) Him,must worship (pray) in spirit and in reality“.   So we need  to pray with the spirit, our human spirit, to contact God in reality. God created man with Body, soul and spirit.  Notice the ‘s’ on spirit/Spirit. Upper case ‘Spirit’ refers to the Spirit of God, since He is Spirit. Lower case ‘spirit’ refers to our human spirit. God gave us a spirit to contact God who is Spirit. Prayer in reality comes when we contact God in spirit.

Prayer is simple. Prayer is just talking to God. Nothing formal is necessary.

God exists and listens, we just need to talk to Him.    Prayer does not need to be formal or in some special place. Prayer is just talking to God in reality. So we don’t need make-up something, just start saying what is on your heart as you talk to God.  Prayer is just a dialog between us and God.  Prayer can be alone for with others.    Prayer can be when we love God and when we hate God. Sometimes we are hurting because of something that happened, so tell that to God.   Prayer can be what we feel when we are very encouraged and when we are very depressed and low.   Prayer can be when we think we are perfect (only God is perfect), and when we are a sinner (and we all are sinners) and when we feel we are a saint.  Prayer can be when we are happy and when we are sad. Sometimes after we pray we feel high and sometimes low.

The Spirit makes it easy, because He knows how and what to pray.   Without the Spirit, prayer is hard. With the Spirit prayer us easy.  Romans 8:26 And in like manner the Spirit joins also its help to our weakness; for we do not know what we should pray for as is fitting, but the Spirit itself makes intercession with groanings which cannot be uttered.

Look at the prayers of David in the Psalms where David just talks to God. David tells God just what he thinks and how he feels.  When David is low, he says “God, I am depressed”.

When David was feeling great, He praises God. Sometimes when he is low is also praises God.  Psalms 8:2 Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings hast thou established praise because of thine adversaries, to still the enemy and the avenger.

Also consider some of the points in the article on “Prayer is Talking to God”

Trust in the Lord

Trust in the Lord - lake in Montana

Trust in the Lord – lake in Montana

We trust in many things like food, our house, our job, our bank account, hard work, our family or society. When things do not work we sometimes drop all else and trust the Lord!  But only because we have come to our end, at least we think our end. So now to try to trust the Lord everyday is a stretch for many of us.   Our understanding of life and events is somewhat limited, so that’s why the verse says to not rely too much on our thinking or understanding.  God knows better than us, even though we like to think we understand everything.

Proverbs 3:5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not rely on your own understanding;  6 think about Him in all your ways, and He will guide you on the right paths.

Look at the story of Joseph in the Bible. Joseph had a vision to be a governor in Egypt, yet God let him through all kinds of very difficult trials.  If Joseph had not been Egypt’s prisoner, he could have never been Egypt’s governor.

Every difficulty we pass through prepares us for our future work for God. So right in the middle (but this is hard to do), we need to trust in the Lord.

Prayer and Supplication with Thanksgiving

Prayer and Supplication with Thanksgiving - Seagull, Cannon Beach, Oregon

Prayer and Supplication with Thanksgiving – Seagull, Cannon Beach, Oregon

Prayer starts with thanksgiving, thanking God for all He has done.  Sometimes this is hard to do, but thanksgiving helps our prayer.   But this verse starts by telling us to be careful for nothing, that is, don’t worry about anything, just pray.  Then it says to just let God know what’s going on, just talk to God.  Then after all these items, there is the peace of God that goes beyond what we think and feel.  This peace guards our hearts by filling us with the peace of God.

Philippians 4:6-7 Be careful about nothing; but in everything, by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; 7 and the peace of God, which surpasses every understanding, shall guard your hearts and your thoughts by Christ Jesus.

Sunflower in San Diego

Sunflower in San Diego

Sunflower in San Diego

While with my wife, son, daughter, and grandson I took this photograph in San Diego. No special close-up lens and no special lighting, just standard sunlight on a beautiful day in San Diego.

We get depressed, but God is never depressed.  We get low, but God is not low.  We get worried, but God is not worried.  Our anxiety and concern level gets high, but God is not worried.

God is very confident that He can finish the work He started in You.  Philippians 1:6 being confident of this very thing, that he who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Jesus Christ: God does not get discouraged when He looks at us and observes us.  God is not discouraged when we fail. He already knows we will fail.  He knows the purpose He created each of us for and never gives up on us. 

The Lord is My Strength – Prayer

Consider this verse:  Exodus 15:2 The Lord is my strength and my song, and he has become my salvation; this is my God, and I will praise him, my father’s God, and I will exalt him.   In this verse, it does not say to “pray for strength”, it says the Lord is my strength. So the prayer for strength is simply to say “The Lord is my strength”.  Just say this a few times, and the realization will hit you, it’s not  asking for strength, it’s declaring the fact about where our strength comes from. Our strength is not a thing, but a person Jesus Christ. This is the best prayer for strength.

What Happens When I Die

What Happens When I Die

There is a day on the calendar when we are appointed to die. God knows the day. He gives life and He takes life. We try to extend life with diets, exercise, and doctors, but life and death is in the hand of God.  The day of our birth and death is set by God, not me. The fact is that all of us are born, we die and we all pay taxes. None of us choose when we are born and when we die. Everybody faces God.  After death we all face God to determine eternity. Some for eternal rewards some for eternal punishment.

So what happens when I die?  When we die, we at some point will face God to give an account for our life.

1. For the believer it is to inherit eternal life.
2. For the un-believer it is to receive eternal punishment.

Here are some verses from the Bible on death and what what happens after we die.

John 5:24 Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.
Daniel 12:2 And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame, to everlasting contempt.
John 3:36  He that believes on the Son has life eternal, and he that is not subject to the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides upon him.
Psalms 39:5 Behold, thou hast made my days as hand- breadths, and my lifetime is as nothing before thee; verily, every man, even the high placed, is altogether vanity.

When we die, we at some point, will face God to give an account for our life.

1. For Believers, there is the Judgment Seat of Christ.

2 Corinthians 5:10 For we must all appear before the Judgment Seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil.
Romans 14:10 But thou, why judgest thou thy brother? or again, thou, why dost thou make little of thy brother? for we shall all be placed before the judgment- seat of God.

The judgment seat of Christ does not determine our eternal destiny; that issue is decided the moment we receive Christ. Knowing that in the future we will stand before Jesus Christ and face a personal review of our lives should always motivate us to love the Lord, grow in the Lord, obey the Lord, live righteously and live faithfully in the present.

2. For un-believers, there is the Great White Throne.

The “Great White Throne” judgment described in Rev. 20:11–15 is for unbelievers. This final exam for all un-believers is a picture of God’s holy rule and requirements.

20:15 Only God’s elect, those whose names are written in the Book of Life, will escape the lake of fire. To be written in the book of life is to believe on Jesus for eternal life.