Can we have hope of desperate prayers being answered?

I don't know if you've seen the film "O Brother Where Art Thou?" I think I'm right in saying it's a slightly odd take on Homer's "The Odyssey". Anyway, in the film the main character, played by George Clooney, is consistently derisive of God and faith in God. However at the end of the film he finds himself about to be killed, and falls to his knees and prays a desperate prayer both for forgiveness and salvation. As he is about to be hanged a damn breaks and the flood of water washes him and his companions to safety. They are convinced it was an act of God, but he again writes God off.

Many people, and you may be among them, when they find themselves in a desperate situation will pray a desperate prayer. "God or whoever you are, if you are up there, please help me." My question is; can we have any hope of God answering that kind of prayer?

If we think of this kind of prayer in terms of me asking my dad for help perhaps it will help us. My dad is called John Hawthorne. He is good dad and I love him very much. He has cared for me, spent a large amount of time and money on me. He consistently has me in his thoughts and care even though I am now a dad myself. He is a generous and loving man. I can go on to describe to you what he looks like, snap shots of his life history, (such as memories of growing up in Coventry during the WWII,) his current projects, who he is married to, his other children (my sisters). In short my dad is a specific person, who has a specific character and personality and history. Throwing a prayer in the air in the hope that God, whoever he may be, will answer it, would be a little bit like me randomly opening the phone book and dialling a number, or several numbers and saying, "Dad, I don't know if you're there, or what you're like, but I need help."

For a dad who has not only been the means of my birth, but also the main influence on my life and main contributor to my survival and development, who has poured out his love on me and continues to, would that not be a massive insult? It would be a disgraceful thing to do to him. He would have every right to take offence if he heard what I was doing. Surely the same is more true with God. He gives us life and breath and our very being. Every good gift comes from him. He makes himself known to us by becoming a man, Jesus Christ, and gives proof of this to all of us by raising Jesus from the dead. And yet we have the audacity to think that God will respond when throughout our whole lives we have ignored and pushed him to one side. It is quite remarkable when you think it through, and yet we still pray that prayer. When we have come to an end of ourselves and we have nowhere left to turn, just in case we cry out to "whoever may be up there."

So you might expect me to now say, "No. God will not listen." But actually I'm going to say, "Yes. He may well listen!" How do we know? What happened when Jesus died is how we know. From the time of the fall of man, people had been barred from the presence of God. A flashing sword and mighty cherubim (not sweat little babies with wings, but mighty and dangerous angels) guarded the way back into God's presence. When the tabernacle and then the temple were built, the curtain that separated the most holy place, (the place of God's presence with his people,) had woven into it cherubim. The imagery was clear - you are not allowed into God's presence. And that was even for the priests who served in the temple. However when Jesus died something very curious happened. As he cried his last cry, breathed his last breath and gave up his spirit "the curtain in the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom." Jesus by his death opened the way for us to come to God, to know God, to find his unstoppable mercy. Thieves and murderers (like the guy on the cross next to Jesus) could find forgiveness. Everyone from the highest to the lowest, from the most devout Jew who knew God intimately, to the least religious Gentile (a word for non-Jew) has the chance to come into God's presence because of what Jesus accomplished through giving up his life.

When we pray the desperate prayer, we have right to expect an answer. We are not doing God a favour by finally praying. But if you will rely on him being exceedingly merciful perhaps he will. Only if he answers, (and he answers in many different and unexpected ways,) and you find yourself brought out of the situation don't do what George Clooney's character did, and write God off again. Run to Jesus in thankfulness and begin discovering there is plenty more mercy waiting for you!

Rehoboth

Gen 26v22 "Then he (Isaac) moved away from there and dug another well. They did not quarrel over it, so Isaac named it Rehoboth, saying, "For now the LORD has made room for us, and we will prosper in the land."
A friend of mine cherishes this name dearly. It has been and continues to be his prayer as he seeks to plant churches and re-establish old churches on the brink of closure; that the Lord would make room for gospel churches, and that he would prosper them in the land. Perhaps we could all be praying this for our own churches, and other churches that we know. And may the Lord answer our prayers.

Testing a sermon upload site.

Here should be an embedded mp3 player of an old sermom from Colossians. Let's hope it works!


Col 1v9-14 Wisdom And Power For Life

Where is your heart?

Mat 6:21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

What are your plans for today? What do you hope to get done? How will you relax? Perhaps we can dig a little bit deeper and ask the why questions. Why are you planning to do those things? Why do you relax in that way?

Perhaps today you aim to get the grocery shopping done. It's something most of us have to do every week. In answer to why we can state the obvious, "Because we need to eat!" However there is another motivation behind our shopping that will determine what we buy, and in fact where we buy it. Jesus, in this section of the sermon on the mount, is talking about the lure of money and the way it can take over our lives. If we are seeking treasure on earth we tend to go one of two ways (and often a mixture of the two). We may seek to shop very carefully so as to spend as little as possible, therefore keeping as much money for other things as possible. Or we may enjoy spending on "treats" and fancy food, both to spoil ourselves and to show everyone that we can afford to buy the Waitrose Premium carrots, rather than the Tesco value ones!

Alternatively, if we are seeking treasure in heaven, our overriding desire will be the glory of God. We will buy to take care of our bodies which belong to God ("you are not your own, you were bought at a price"), so we may well buy better quality food. We will spend wisely and within our budget so as to honour God in how we use our money, so the Tesco value range will not be beneath us. We may try to buy fair trade products so that we are loving our neighbours in poorer countries. All to the glory of God.

Where your treasure is, there your heart is. What you treasure in your heart is revealed by your weekly shopping list, how you do your work, the way you respond to your family, how you relax, how you deal with frustration, etc. Do not store up for yourself treasure on earth, where moth and rust destroy, but store up for yourself treasure in heaven where your treasure is eternal.

If you set your heart on the glory of God, showing the world how fantastic Jesus is, in all you do, making that your treasure, then you will find a treasure that nothing can destroy and no-one can steal.

Three tests of faith

I've begun reading Matthew's gospel in the morning.  Today the first part of my reading was where Satan came to tempt Jesus in the wilderness. Have also been looking at Hebrews recently where it says that Jesus our great high priest has been tempted in every way just as we are, yet was without sin.  At the beginning of Matthew chapter four we see three of those temptations.  I think you could put these temptations into three categories.  The first temptation Satan says, "if you are the Son of God, tell the stones to become bread." The basic temptation is for Jesus to be his own boss.  Not to live in faithful obedience, but to put his own desires before loving trust of his Father.  Satan's second temptation is for Jesus to throw himself from the temple.  Satan quotes the Scriptures saying God will not let him be hurt.  He is of course twisting the Scriptures to his own ends. He is tempting Jesus to disbelieve God's word.  His third temptation is to receive power over all the world the easy way.  It is Jesus inheritance by his resurrection from the dead, but Satan offers it to him without the need of the cross. 

This year no doubt we will each be tempted to be our own boss, to disbelieve what God says, and to take the easy way out.  It is a great comfort to know that Jesus stood up under these temptations.  That he lived a sinless life so that he might deal with our sin for us on the cross.  When we fall we have a saviour.  It is also good to know the truth of the later scripture that says, "resist the devil and he will flee from you." Here Jesus resists the devil by keeping his eyes on his Father in heaven.  As we look to our Father in heaven through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ we will discover that there is a way out from under every temptation.  Let us pray for grace to stand in the face of the devil schemes and after we have done everything still to stand.

Happy New Year!!!

Genesis1v1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
Genesis 1v31 God saw everything that he had made, and it was very good.

Rev 4v11 You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honour and power, for you created all things, and by your will they were created and have their being.

John 1v1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
John 1v3-4 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of men.
John 1v14 The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.

Matthew 1v21 ...and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.

Hebrews 1v3 The Son is the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven.
Hebrews 4v14-16 Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has gone through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathise with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are - yet was without sin. Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may find grace to help us in our time of need.
Hebrews 12v1-3 ...let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfector of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.