Seek the Lord

"And David enquired of the Lord." -

2Sa_5:23

David's example is certainly one that we should learn from. He is not one of the bad examples like Samson. He is here a good example. We see him doing the right things, the right way, for the right reasons. We can learn a lot by that. Today, we find David facing the Philistines for a second time. There was a mighty victory the first time, and that would be enough to convince many people that victory is a given. David enquired of the Lord the first time - and won. How many would rest on yesterday's victory for today's battles? It was by the strength of the Lord that David's army won the first time - and David enquires a second time because that same strength is needed this time as well if victory is to happen.

Dear friends, never assume that victory over a sin, over a foe, or over an issue is a guarantee of today's new battles. Spiritual strength - the strength of the Lord - is always needed - and we must enquire of the Lord each day, for each battle. Don't wait to pray, make it a first resort. Look to God in the beginning of your day, not at the end.

There is another truth in this that we must grasp. In the enquiring, we need to wait for the answer. We tend to rush to do battle without having heard the instructions, hoping that we'll hear the still, small, quiet voice of the Lord amidst the clang and clamor of battle. With the world pulling all sorts of directions, we need the instructions from the Lord to help us know which strings to respond to. Wait for His instructions, follow them, and you will find victory for sure.

A third truth is found in this verse: sometimes the instructions God gives you seem strange, weird, or simply silly. Remember that He is God, His ways are higher than our ways, and He wants to do as He wishes. He will not make a fool of you. If He says take a compass and go from an oblique direction against your enemies, it may be because He knows the weaknesses of your enemies - and that direction will ensure victory. If He says bring a candle in a jar and a trumpet, then shine your light and sound your trumpet and watch the enemy quake with fear and flee with fright! Blessed is the soldier in God's Army who follows faithfully His Commander's orders, however strange they seem. God knows the dangers and the directions.

Make an enquiry of the Lord as David did - and make it every day that your day might be his and you can say with the Psalmist, "This is the day that the Lord has made! Let us rejoice in Him!"

Praying Always

"Praying always." -

Eph_6:18

Prayer is something that nearly everyone I know says they do. I might ask them about their relationship with the Lord, and their answer always turns to prayer. "Oh, I pray every day. Of course I believe in God." And such an answer is intended to satisfy my curiosity and convince me that they are fine, spiritually speaking, and want no further encouragement to live for the Lord. I've always wondered what they pray for, if they ever get their answers, or why they are praying. I've also wondered from time to time if they ever are moved to grow into the likeness of Christ through their prayers, or if they even think about prayer as a time to listen as much as to talk.

"Praying always" seems to be an "attitude of prayer" - implying a communion with the Lord. What a sweet communion that is. There is the awareness of His presence always. How marvelous to walk beside the Living God of Heaven! What bully can get you? What trial can stop you? What temptation can pull you? What need is there that He does not provide for you? His grace is always with you, His smile is there as He leads you to do His Holy Will, and His comfort is there for our broken hearts in grief and pain. Your soul is totally satisfied.

Along with this wonderful blessing comes the great responsibility. Walking with the Lord makes you responsible to your fellow man to live the truth - like Christ were right beside you. You are responsible for telling others about your love - Jesus Christ. Your prayers should be quick to the Lord on behalf of those you meet throughout your day. Your faith should be seen all the time - not just Sunday morning if then. You have the responsibility to live for Christ. May you find that responsibility less a duty and more an expression of the presence of Christ by your side as you are praying always!

Set Your Sail

"When thou hearest the sound of a going in the tops of the mulberry trees, then thou shalt bestir thyself." -

2Sa_5:24

It is through continual and faithful prayer that one keeps his sail up for the Spiritual wind that moves both the Christian and the "tops of the mulberry trees." By continual and faithful prayer, the sail is open, and the wind merely need to catch it. There is little preparation, but to turn the sail to catch the wind as it stirs. At such times, there is a special power to prayer, special strength to life, and a special understanding of the Scriptures that delights the believer, empowering him for a unique and wonderful service in the Lord. It is walking in the light as He is in the light. It is the hope of all who serve Him.

But it is also that continual prayer that is so necessary. We must pull hard at times until the wind blow. It is through the tough times of prayer that evil habits are destroyed, the hard work of striving with God is accomplished, and great faith is developed. Let us not grow weary, but pull all the harder, lest we be found unprepared when the wind blows "in the tops of the mulberry trees."

You ask for a movement of the Holy Spirit? Then prepare yourself by setting your sail and freeing yourself from the moorings of sin, that when He answers your prayer, you are ready to go where He sends and do as He bids.

Count Your Blessings

"I will mention the loving kindnesses of the Lord, and the praises of the Lord, according to all that the Lord hath bestowed on us." - Isa_63:7

It is a marvelous thing for the soul to meditate upon the grace of the Lord. How can gloom overtake us when we are thinking on the marvelous day when Christ entered our lives? Can you remember that day? Do you remember how you felt when you knew that He had forgiven you? Was there a load lifted? Chains snapped? Can you remember how much He loved you? Let it lift you beyond the gloom of loneliness and despair of this day, for His love will never leave you. Reflect on His love as expressed by the cross. Think about how much love it takes to die for you. Will such a Savior ever leave you who has gone through so much on your behalf? Yet, He was raised again so He can walk with you today. Are you sick and suffering? Has He ever restored you to health? He is not changed. Sing His praises and trust Him this hour to do as He always has. Are you poor and without something you need? Has He ever failed to supply you with your needs? Remember that day in your past when you had need and He had abundant supply just waiting on you to ask for it? Remind Him of it, and praise Him before all the people - and rest assured that He will again provide for you, for His people have never had to beg for bread.

It will do your soul well to catalog His kindnesses and your praises for them. It will encourage your heart, and may someday be used to lift others from doubt and despair to faith and eternal life. Take your praises to church this Sunday, and share them with your fellow believers. You never know who needs to be encouraged to trust as you have. Through it, the mercies of God shown in your life will be multiplied in the lives of others.

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Humility of Prayer

Bible Reading: (Lamentations 3:41) Let us lift up our heart with our hands unto God in the heavens.

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We might not think that we are a proud people - until we consider how we approach the Lord in prayer. We think we have it all and prove it by not praying for our daily needs. Our poverty is revealed by prayer. We think we know it all and prove it by not seeking the Lord's guidance by prayer for our daily decisions. We think we can do it all and prove it by not praying for strength for our daily duties. We are a proud people - and desperately in need of real prayer to the Lord of Heaven.

The process of praying humbles not only our minds and bodies as we assume a worshipful posture and attitude, but it humbles our souls as we learn to rely upon the Lord for our every need. How much more we have when we have the provision of the Lord. How much more we know when we have the direction of the Lord. How much more we have when we have the power of the Lord!

The blessed one is he who will lift up his heart and hands unto God in the heavens. His heart is emptied of his pride and filled with God's righteousness, and his hands are given to God for God's use. Nothing can be better, and nothing is more blessed than to serve God with heart and hand.

Bro. Greg

Pray for the Children

Bible Reading: (Mark 9:19) He answereth him, and saith, O faithless generation, how long shall I be with you? how long shall I suffer you? bring him unto me.

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Have you noticed that every hospital has a chapel? Nothing drives a person to his knees in prayer to the Lord than his children when they are sick and near death. The injury or illness of a child is a heartbreaking event, and works on the soul like nothing else to reveal how very helpless even the best of scientists and doctors are and how powerful God is.

Jesus tells us to "bring him unto me." Jesus can do what no one else can do. Jesus will draw us to Him one way or another. The parent who will not give the Lord an hour a week will spend hours praying in such a situation. Deaf to the words and ways of Christ, the parent of a severely ill child will hear the words "bring Him unto me." While the child breathes, hope lives that Christ will save him.

It would be better, perhaps, if we were to pray as earnestly BEFORE this child is born. How different that child's life would be. Taking the child to the Lord is not something that should wait for such an emergency. It is something we should do always. The dangers that lurk in this world waiting to pounce upon child-prey are many. There are those who would kill him before birth. There are those who would use him for perverted practices. The dangers of childhood alone bring injury and disease. But it is not simply their bodies that lie in peril. Vain philosophies abound that convince children that God is evil, or that He does not even exist. Whom will the child learn to trust? The death of the body is not necessarily the end. Jesus warns us:

(Matthew 10:28) And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.

Until breath stops, hope lives - for then we may still bring them unto Christ. Let us make it a point to pray for the young in our world while we may.

Bro. Greg

Morning Devotions

Bible Reading: Mark 2:4 And when they could not come nigh unto him for the press, they uncovered the roof where he was: and when they had broken it up, they let down the bed wherein the sick of the palsy lay.

I've always been amazed at these four men who were so very needy of getting to Jesus. They weren't going to let a crowd stop them. No walls were thick enough to stop them. No ceiling could prevent them. When they wanted to talk to Jesus, they made a way. It was huge. It is still huge today for what it tells us.

This picture of four men taking away some ceiling tile to lower their poor, crippled friend down to the feet of Jesus tells us about our evangelism methods, as well as about our personal prayer lives.

EVANGELISM
These men would stop at nothing to get the lost, the helpless, the needy, and the sin-sick into the presence of the Redeemer. When conventional methods failed, they found new ones. When reason failed, invention prevailed. The message is the same, but the methods of getting people into the presence of Christ changes with the situation.

How far are you willing to go to get the lost into the presence of the Redeemer? Will you go to the jailhouse? Will you go to the hospital? How about the Nursing Home? The drug rehab facility? The streets of your city or town? These are where the lost are - and you have Jesus.

What are you willing to do to get the lost into the presence of the Savior? Will you befriend the friendless? Will you help the helpless? Will you stand against the tide of popular opinion and reach across social boundaries?

PRAYER
I sometimes think that the reason more people don't see the hand of God moving among them is that they don't take the time to pray. They are simply too busy. They have too many other things on their priority list. Their "wanter" is not as strong as it should be. Their needs don't cry out for the help of the Savior loud enough in their minds to make this something they want more than anything else. When the need presses hard enough, the wanter wants strong enough, then the person will clamor to have the need met. Christ will fill the need of every soul if we will but come to Him. Blessed is he who will clamor to enter the prayer closet to be with the Lord - even if it means he must put his family and friends aside for a time. They will be there when he returns, but for the moment, an audience with Jesus is all that will suffice.