Good Morning Everyone,

 

Our theme for this month: “Effective prayer”

 

Our Bible verse for today: “Don’t be afraid, Daniel,” he said to me, “for from the first day that you purposed to understand and to humble yourself before your God, your prayers were heard. I have come because of your prayers. But the prince of the kingdom of Persia opposed me for 21 days.” Daniel 10:12-13 (HCSB)

 

Our thought for today: “The battle must be fought and won before the prayer can be answered.”

 

Daniel had a problem. He was faced with a difficult situation that he did not understand and he had no idea what he was supposed to do about it. So he did the right thing, he prayed to God and asked for understanding and clarification. But understanding didn’t come. So Daniel kept praying. Not for an hour, and not for a day, and not even just for a couple of days. He prayed and fasted and waited for three weeks. (As we’ve already learned from the example of Elijah, effective prayer is often hard work and it takes time.)

 

Finally, after three weeks of praying and fasting and waiting, an angel appeared and gave Daniel the answer he had been waiting for. And we read in Daniel 10:12-13 that the Lord had dispatched the angel to deliver the answer to Daniel on the very first day he started his prayers, but Satan opposed the delivery of that answer. As a result there was a battle that had to be fought and won in the spiritual realm before the answer could be received and experienced in the physical realm.

 

This is the very lesson we learned from Paul yesterday in Ephesians 6:10-20. There is a spiritual battle raging, you and I are in it whether we want to be or not, and the battle has to be won in the spiritual realm first before the effects of it can be experienced in the physical realm. The continued, persistent, effective prayers of God’s people are a key element in winning the battle.

 

Thank God Daniel didn’t give-up and stop praying. If he had, there’s a good chance the battle would not have been won and the answer would not have come! And that is the lesson here for us. I can’t help but wonder how many battles were on the verge of being won, and would have been won, if I had just kept praying.

 

If we go back to yesterday’s lesson in Ephesians chapter six again, we read in verse 13 Paul says, “This is why you must take up the full armor of God, so that you may be able to resist in the evil day, and having prepared everything, to take your stand.”

 

“Take your stand.” The implication is that you plant your feet and you refuse to be moved. You are steadfast and determined. You won’t budge and you won’t give-up. That’s the way Daniel approached his prayer and as a result, the battle was won and the answer came.

 

The battle must be fought and won in the spiritual realm before the answer can be experienced in the physical realm. So put on your armor, take your stand, pray, and don’t stop praying until the answer comes.

 

God Bless,

Pastor Jim

Good Morning Everyone,

 

Our theme for this month: “Effective prayer”

 

Our Bible verse for today: “Finally, be strengthened by the Lord and by His vast strength. Put on the full armor of God so that you can stand against the tactics of the Devil.” Ephesians 6:10-11 (HCSB)

 

Our thought for today: “There is a battle, you are in it, and prayer prepares you for it.”

 

As I explained yesterday, in Ephesians chapter six the Apostle Paul makes it crystal clear that there is a battle raging in the spiritual realm and you and I are part of it – and that’s true whether we want to be part of it or not. Events in the physical realm are directly linked to the battle taking place in the spiritual realm, and the battle in the spiritual realm is heavily influenced by activities in the physical realm. The battle is especially influenced by the prayers of God’s people.

 

In Ephesians 6:10 Paul instructs us to be strengthened by the Lord and by His vast strength, thereby making it clear that not only can we be strengthened by the Lord in preparation for this battle, but we are expected to be and we need to be.

 

Then in 6:11 he tells us how to be strengthened and prepared – by putting on the full armor of God. If we do it, we will then be able to stand strong and courageously against the Devil and his schemes. And the implicit understanding here is that if we do not put on the armor of God as Paul is about to explain, then we will not be strengthened and prepared to stand against the devil and his schemes.

 

In verses 12 and 13 he forcefully drives home the truth that our real battle is against evil forces in the spiritual realm and this is why it is absolutely essential for us to take the time to put on the full armor of God, it is so that we will not be overwhelmed and defeated by Satan and his evil forces.

 

In verses 14-17 he describes six pieces of spiritual armor the Lord provides us with for our defense against Satan, and also one offensive weapon to be used by us to actually take the battle to the evil one. Then, once the subject has been fully covered, in verses 18-20 Paul urges us to use the defensive armor and our offensive weapon and to pray, to pray hard.

 

This subject of spiritual warfare and the armor of God is too important to treat lightly or to address superficially. Therefore these brief devotional messages are not a suitable forum for dealing with it. The subject requires a more thorough treatment than I can provide here in a single page. Therefore I want to ask you to commit and extra 15-20 minutes sometime today to look at an expanded teaching on this subject. If you have a copy of my book “Walking with Paul”, you will find that expanded teaching in chapter fourteen. If you don’t have a copy of that book then please go to my website at www.JimMersereauBooks.com, click on “Free articles” and select the article “The Armor of God”. You can read it and download it for free.

 

Folks, this subject right here is the crux of the issue. Paul’s teaching about spiritual warfare and the armor of God here in Ephesians 6:10-20 is the most important lesson you will ever learn regarding effective prayer. If you get this, you will be an effective pray-er. If you don’t get this lesson, your prayers will always be minimally effective at best.

 

Please take the time to study this subject further. Nothing else you could spend that extra 15-20 minutes on could possibly be more important.

 

God Bless,
Pastor Jim

Good Morning Everyone,

 

Our theme for this month: “Effective prayer”

 

Our Bible verse for today: “For our battle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against authorities, against the world powers of darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavens.” Ephesians 6:12 (HCSB)

 

Our thought for today: “You are in a battle and prayer is one of your weapons.”

 

The Bible is clear that there is a great battle raging in the spiritual realm for the hearts and souls of men and women, boys and girls. Behind the veil that separates the physical realm from the spiritual realm the forces of good and evil, light and darkness, are at war. Also, there is a direct link between the two realms. What happens in the spiritual realm impacts and influences what happens in the physical realm, and vice-versa.

 

That means that you and I are involved in a war – a spiritual war that is linked to and impacts life in the physical world. That was Paul’s point in Ephesians 6:12. In the rest of that passage Paul describes resources the Lord provides for us and strategies we are to use as we engage in the spiritual warfare. We’ll take a look at that tomorrow. Today we just want to get the point that there is a war going on and we’re in it.

 

That understanding should impact how we pray. The role of prayer in this war is crucial. For one thing, as has already been discussed, when we come to God in prayer He will often clarify our thinking and help us to see things as they truly are. That’s important. Satan is a master deceiver. Therefore things we encounter in day-to-day life are often actually different than they appear at first. In prayer God can help us see through the fog of deception.

 

But also in prayer God will often help us to see the way forward and what steps to take next. Again this is important. In this battle Satan would like to keep us confused and misdirected. God can and does use our times of prayer to strategize with us and help us to understand His plan for dealing with our current situation.

 

In prayer we also get outfitted for the fight. It’s in prayer that we put on the defensive armament that Paul describes in this passage of Ephesians six and which we’ll talk about tomorrow. That armor protects us as we engage the enemy. It’s also in prayer that we take-up the offensive weapons Paul will teach us about in Ephesians six and which enable us to take the battle to the enemy.

 

Finally, prayer itself can be a weapon in our arsenal. We can and should use our prayers as a means of striking the enemy, actually beating him back and recapturing ground previously held by him.

 

If this is how we think about prayer then it changes everything. No more kiddie prayers like “Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray the Lord my soul to keep …” No sir! This is war. This is serious stuff. Prayer prepares us for the battle and prayer often is the battle.

 

How we think about prayer determines how we actually pray. We’ll spend more time with Paul’s instructions about this in Ephesians chapter six tomorrow.

 

God Bless,

Pastor Jim

Good Morning Everyone,

 

Our theme for this month: “Effective Prayer”

 

Our Bible verse for today: “Brothers, stop thinking like children. In regard to evil be infants, but in your thinking be adults.” 1 Corinthians 14:20 (NIV)

 

Our thought for today: “God wants us to grow-up”

 

Up to this point in our consideration of effective prayer I’ve been writing mostly about how we need to think about prayer. This is important because how we think about prayer will determine how we actually pray. Therefore I have pointed out that first of all, the Bible repeatedly calls us to pray. It is something God wants us to do a lot of. I’ve also noted that the best prayer is hard work. It takes time, effort, and concentration. And yesterday we thought about how it is that God uses our prayers to adjust our perspective and attitude about things.

 

Later this week we will begin to think about specific strategies for effective praying but before we get there, there are two additional points that need to be made regarding our thinking about prayer. We’ll look at one of them today and the other tomorrow.

 

One of things God wants to accomplish in us, and which prayer helps to facilitate, is our spiritual growth. Make no mistake, God wants us to grow-up spiritually. He does not want us to remain immature spiritual babies. In 1 Corinthians 14:20 the Apostle Paul makes that very point. So does the writer of the letter to the Hebrews in Hebrews 6:1 “Therefore let us leave the elementary teachings about Christ and go on to maturity …”

 

As I explained in one of the earlier messages on this topic, one of the things God accomplishes in us through our prayer time is that He teaches us and helps us to understand things from His perspective rather than from our own. It’s exactly like when a human father talks through a situation with a young son or daughter and helps them to come to a more mature understanding of it.

 

In his excellent book “Moving Mountains” John Eldredge writes, “And how does God provide for growing us up? What are his means? Situations that stretch us, strain us, push us beyond what we thought we could endure – those very same circumstances that cause us to pray.”

 

Yes, those difficult situations that we don’t understand, don’t want, and wish weren’t there, are the very things that drive us to our knees in prayer and place us in a position before God whereby He can talk to us, teach us, stretch us, and grow us. The thing that you and I are thinking is so terrible and so unwanted is the very thing God is using to bring about greater spiritual maturity in us.

 

And seriously, would you be praying so hard if that situation did not exist in your life? Probably not.

 

So when you bring your tough times to God in prayer do so with the understanding that this is a teachable moment. Ask Him what He wants you to learn as a result of this situation. Our times of prayer can be the schoolhouse in which we learn some of our best and most valuable lessons.

 

God Bless,

Pastor Jim

Good Morning Everyone,

 

Our theme for this month: “Effective prayer”

 

Our Bible verse for today: “Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter: fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man.” Ecclesiastes 12:13 (NIV)

 

Our thought for today: “Prayer helps to adjust our perspective and attitude.”

 

This morning I was re-reading Solomon’s long, sad lament which we have come to know as the book of Ecclesiastes in the Old Testament. Whenever I read Ecclesiastes I’m always struck by the fact that this was written by the wealthiest and most powerful man in the world in his day.

 

Ecclesiastes was written towards the end of his life and in it Solomon records that he had everything a man could hope for in this world. He was fabulously wealthy, he was widely admired, he was a powerful leader, and he had thousands of beautiful women who literally belonged to him (wives and concubines) and whose sole purpose in life was to please him.

 

Any yet Solomon writes that those decades of wine, women, wealth, and song ended up being painfully empty and totally unsatisfying. His story reminds me of the sad final years of Elvis Presley. Shortly before his death he made an entry in his diary which was later published and became famous. It was late at night after a show, he was in a penthouse suite of a Casino in Las Vegas, and Elvis wrote about how lonely he was and how unhappy his life had turned out to be. Despite all his fame and fortune Elvis was a sad and lonely man.

 

I could fill pages with similar stories about Howard Hughes, Kurt Cobain, Robin Williams and so many others who, by the standards of the world seemed to have it all, but in reality were sad and empty and lonely, to the point of despondency and even suicide.

 

A thousand years after the time of Solomon the Apostle Paul wrote, “But godliness with contentment is great gain.” (1 Timothy 6:6). That’s also the conclusion Solomon finally arrived at by the end of his life. It’s the very point he was making in Ecclesiastes 12:13. It’s also the point Spanky from the Little Rascals was making when he told his friend Buster, “Buddy, if you ain’t got Jesus you ain’t got nuthin.”

 

What does all of this have to do with our theme of effective prayer? Well, in prayer God helps us to get our heads screwed on straight regarding the things that really matter – and about those that don’t. In effective prayer He helps to clarify our thinking, change our perspective, and adjust our attitudes.

 

Effective prayer involves sincerely asking God to help you see things from His perspective and then inviting Him to adjust your thinking accordingly. It’s a matter of bringing your worldly concerns before Him, laying them down at His feet, and asking Him to help you see it all clearly.  “Lord, help me to see how important this thing I’m so worried about at the moment really is, or isn’t.” “Jesus, in Matthew 6:25-33 you taught me to seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and to trust the concerns of life to my heavenly Father. So to the best of my ability I do that now and I ask You to give me a sense of peace about it.”

 

Effective prayer has a wonderful way of clarifying our thinking and adjusting our attitudes about the cares of life. I encourage you to bring it all to Him in prayer – and then leave it there.

 

God Bless,

Pastor Jim

Good Morning Everyone,

 

Our theme for this month: “Effective prayer”

 

Our Bible verse for today: “And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints.” Ephesians 6:18 (NIV)

 

Our thought for today: “God chooses to work through the prayers of His people.”

 

Have you ever wondered why we bother to pray at all? Why is prayer even necessary? Well first and foremost, prayer is intended to be an ongoing conversation between a Father and a child. Therefore prayer is a necessary and important part of establishing and maintaining a healthy relationship with God.

 

But another reason we are to pray is because God chooses to work in this world through the prayers of His people. Ephesians 6:18 is just one of numerous verses in the Bible where we are exhorted to pray about all things, and then to keep on praying. One of the most common and oft repeated themes in the Bible is of God’s people praying, and of God hearing, and then God acting based upon the prayers of His people. It really is true that when God’s people pray, things happen.

 

But why would God choose to work that way? Obviously, since He is all-powerful, He could easily do it without us.

 

One of the great joys of my life has been to be a father to my four children. They’re all adults now and therefore have lives of their own, but when they were small we were together constantly and we did things together all the time. And I loved it. I loved having them there with me, doing things together. I always tried to involve my children in as many of my activities as I could, especially yard work and simple construction and repair projects, etc. Although I could have done all of those things myself – faster and better, I derived deep joy from having my children do them with me. Those were activities that kept us involved in each others lives and our relationship was strengthened by doing them together.

 

So there you have another one of the answers to why we pray. Through our prayers God involves us in His activities, and it brings Him great joy to do so. In prayer not only are we talking through the issue with Him (just like I did with my children when they helped me), but then we are also handling the situation with our Father. Not only does that please Him and bring Him joy, but it’s also instructive for us and helps us to grow-up as Christians. Through our participation with Him in prayer we gain experience, spiritual wisdom and insight, and our faith grows stronger.

 

The more time you spend working through a tough issue together with God in prayer, the deeper and more developed your relationship with Him becomes. Those times of leading you through the complexities of dealing with the issue is satisfying and pleasing to Him, and of great benefit to your spiritual growth. For that reason, God chooses to work through the prayers of His people.

 

So, your Father in Heaven is waiting for you to come to Him in prayer. He wants you to talk through your issues with Him. Spend as much time as it takes, and enjoy your time with Him as together you figure things out and get them done.

 

God Bless,

Pastor Jim

Good Morning Everyone,

 

Our theme for this month: “Effective prayer”

 

Our Bible verse for today: “So Elijah went up to the summit of Carmel. He bowed down on the ground and put his face between his knees. Then he said to his servant, ‘Go up and look toward the sea.’ So he went up, looked, and said, ‘There’s nothing.’ Seven times Elijah said, ‘Go back.’ On the seventh time, he reported, “There’s a cloud as small as a man’s hand coming from the sea.” 1 Kings 18:42-43 (HCSB)

 

Our thought for today: “Effective prayer is hard work.”

 

During the reign of King Ahab (860 BC) the people of God were unfaithful to Him and they worshipped foreign gods. So God punished them by bringing a severe drought upon the land. It lasted for more than three years and it was devastating. Finally God decided to relent and let the rains come. He used the prayers of His faithful servant Elijah as the conduit through which His power would flow to open the skies.

 

Following God’s instructions, Elijah went to the top of Mount Carmel, bowed down, and began to pray for rain. After some time of prayer he looked up to see if there were any signs of rain coming. He didn’t see any and so he sent his servant to the coast to see if there were any clouds forming over the sea. There weren’t.

 

Undeterred, Elijah continued praying. Still nothing. So he took his coat off, rolled up his sleeves, hunkered down even lower, and prayed harder. Still nothing. So he prays more, he prays harder, he doesn’t give up, he sweats, he groans, he keeps praying. Finally after seven times of praying and looking, a small cloud forms on the horizon. That’s all Elijah needed to see. It was a small sign but Elijah knew it was what he had been waiting for. His prayers were answered and the rain was coming.

 

As John Eldredge writes, “Elijah doesn’t just take a quick whack at it; no little “cut flower” prayers here, as Eugene Peterson calls them. No little “Jesus, be with us today” prayers. Elijah is determined to see results.”

 

Do you have an “Aunt Susie” figure in your life? Aunt Susie is a sweet and kind person who prays simple but often superficial prayers like “Jesus, bless everyone, everywhere, always. Amen.” That’s sweet, and I’m sure she is sincere, but seriously, if you’re in great need who would you rather have praying for you, Aunt Susie or Elijah?

 

Yeah, me too. “Brother Elijah, would you please pray for me?”

 

The point is that effective prayer is hard work. Maybe there can be a time when fluffy little prayers are ok, and also spontaneous prayers that just pop out unexpectedly and without much thought, we will discuss those in the days to come; but effective prayer about difficult issues is hard work. It is take off your coat, roll up your sleeves, get down on your knees, pray hard and pray long, hard work. Its Elijah’s kind of praying.

 

I encourage you to become an Elijah kind of pray-er. Work at it. Work hard. Put real effort into it. And don’t stop until the results come.

 

God Bless,

Pastor Jim

Good Morning Everyone,

 

Our theme for this month: “Effective Prayer”

 

Our Bible verse for today: “The prayer of a righteous man (or woman) is powerful and effective.” James 5:16 (NIV)

 

Our thought for today: “We all want to be betters pray-ers.”

 

If you’re like most of us then you would really like to be a better pray-er than you are. No matter how experienced and accomplished we become in the spiritual discipline of prayer, we all have times when we feel as if our prayers are ineffective and we find ourselves wishing we could pray better and more effectively.

 

In all my years as a Christian and as a Pastor I’ve never known anyone who felt as if their prayer life was as successful and healthy as they would like it to be. Not one person.

 

I’ve always enjoyed and been blessed by the writing of John Eldredge. He is the author of the best selling men’s book and Bible study series “Wild at Heart”, as well as a number of other very fine Christian books. John and I come from different denominational backgrounds, and therefore there are some doctrinal differences between us, but we’re close enough in that area that I have found his books to be insightful and helpful.

 

His latest book, which I’m in the process of reading right now, is “Moving Mountains: Praying with Passion, Confidence, and Authority.” I’m only five chapters into it but I already know that this is going to be one of those special books that speak deeply to a need in my life at this moment. I want to be a better pray-er, and I’m thinking that statement is probably true for most of you as well.

 

John begins the book by asserting that although all prayer is meaningful and pleasing to God in some way and at some level, some prayers are clearly, obviously, demonstratively, better, more effective, and more powerful than other prayers. In the opening chapters of the book he makes that point convincingly and Biblically. There are ways to pray that make prayer better and more effective.

 

As I always do as I near the end of any month, over these last few days I’ve been praying that God would reveal to me what theme he would have me write about in these daily devotional messages for the coming month. Yesterday I felt convicted that if this subject of effective prayer is so important to me, then it is probably also important to many of my readers. And if I am benefiting so much from the insights John is sharing in his book, then probably the readers of these devotional messages would benefit from them as well.

 

So for the month of April I’m going to borrow freely from John’s book. I’m going to share with you many of the insights and illustrations he uses, as well as my own thoughts and observations, and material from other sources too. By doing so hopefully we’ll all learn a few things that will help us to pray more effectively.

 

I look forward to exploring this subject of effective prayer with you.

 

God Bless,

Pastor Jim

Good Morning Everyone,

 

Our theme for this month: “Perseverance”

 

Our Bible verse for today: “Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.” Galatians 6:9 (NIV)

 

Our thought for today: “God rewards perseverance.”

 

I read an interesting statement the other night which was written by the great Christian theologian Saint Augustine more than 1500 years ago, “Without God, we cannot, and without us, He will not.”

 

What Augustine meant is that God chooses to work in partnership with His people. Although He is all-powerful and therefore can do anything He wants, anytime He wants, in any way He wants, and He doesn’t need us in order to accomplish it, He chooses to work with and in and through us anyway. For the most part, that’s how things happen in the kingdom of God, we cooperate with God and He then works in and through us.

 

That being the case, we as Christians are completely and totally dependant on Him but at the same time, we also have a responsibility to do our parts in achieving God’s intended results. Even though God could accomplish it without us, He probably won’t unless we cooperate and do our part.

 

And that brings us to the importance of the spiritual discipline of perseverance. God wants us to face our difficult circumstances with faith, determination, endurance, and to keep trying. He will help us, and He will work with us as we move forward in our efforts to deal with the situation, but this is not a free ride and the burden is not all on Him. We must lean into the situation and keep moving forward, day-by-day and step-by-step. If we do, in time the results will come. That was Paul’s point in Galatians 6:9.

 

As we conclude this month of devotional thoughts about the spiritual discipline of perseverance I want to encourage you to hang in there. Nothing is over until you give up. As long as you don’t quit the chance for success still exists. But once you quit, the game is indeed over.

 

Galatians 6:9 is a promise you can claim and cling to. That’s the reason God had Paul give it to us. He wants us to persevere, and in His way and in His timing, He will reward us with His desired outcome if we will.

 

God Bless,

Pastor Jim

Good Morning Everyone,

 

Our theme for this month: “Perseverance”

 

Our Bible verse for today: “Be still, and know that I am God.” Psalm 46:10 (NIV)

 

Our thought for today: “Let God be God”

 

As I write this I’m alone in the Smoky Mountains of eastern Tennessee on a short personal retreat for a few days. This is a time for long hikes on mountain trails, plenty of time spent reading good books (and the Good Book), and quiet moments of just sitting, thinking, and praying.

 

I don’t do this enough. Instead I convince myself that there are far too many things that need my attention back home and which prevent me from getting away – family concerns  and church work; mission trips and mowing the lawn (Ok, I don’t actually have a lawn. At the moment it’s just dirt. But that’s another story).

 

The point is that I often fool myself into thinking that it’s impossible to get away for some down time. I mean, if I’m not there to do all of these things then who will take care of this, that, and every other thing? Seriously, the world might stop and civilization as we know it could come to an end.

 

Or not.

 

The truth is that God is God and I am not. It’s God who keeps all things going and holds them all together. It’s true! I just reread Colossians 1:17 to be sure: “… in him all things hold together.” That’s what it says.

 

When it comes to effectively persevering in life, sometimes we have to just slow down, sit down, be still, and let God be God. That’s the point the Lord was making through the Psalmist in Psalm 46:10 when He said, “Be still and know that I am God.” (I know that was written three thousands years before I was even born but I’m still convinced He had me in mind when He said it).

 

It’s also true that you can’t give what you don’t have. If you’re physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually drained, then you won’t have anything left to give to others. Therefore one of the keys to persevering in life is to sometimes get away for rest and renewal. Jesus Himself did this and He also insisted that His disciples do it as well. In Mark 6:31 He said to them, “Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest.”

 

Ok, so, I really would like to make this devotional message longer but there’s a trail out there that needs to be hiked, some beautiful scenery to be enjoyed, and I’m sure I can find a log beside a bubbling stream to just sit quietly and enjoy being with the Lord. (And I hope you will do something similar for yourself soon).

 

God Bless,

Pastor Jim