Personal Prayer

Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word; (John 17:20)

Jesus prayed for us during his earthly ministry. If Jesus prayed for us we have no reason to doubt his love for us and we have every reason to also pray for others.

Help

Then shalt thou call, and the Lord shall answer; thou shalt cry, and he shall say, Here I am. If thou take away from the midst of thee the yoke, the putting forth of the finger, and speaking vanity; (Isaiah 58:9)

I called upon the Lord in distress: the Lord answered me, and set me in a large place. (Psalm 118:5)

Then shall ye call upon me, and ye shall go and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto you. 13 And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart. (Jeremiah 29:12-13)

When I need Jehovah he is there for me, but he also expects me to be there for other people.

The Power of Prayer

Then shalt thou call, and the Lord shall answer; thou shalt cry, and he shall say, Here I am. If thou take away from the midst of thee the yoke, the putting forth of the finger, and speaking vanity; (Isaiah 58:9)

If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me: 19 But verily God hath heard me; he hath attended to the voice of my prayer. (Psalm 66:18-19)

He shall call upon me, and I will answer him: I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him, and honour him. (Psalm 91:15)

We can learn something very important here. There is a solid logical argument from these texts; I'm not sure what to call it: thesis, antithesis, synthesis; something to do with that. What I'm getting at is this: Jehovah states in one place that when I obey him, he will listen to me. The Scriptures teach in the Psalms that when I refuse to obey him, he will not listen to me. So it is solid, it goes both ways: Jehovah listens to those who obey him and them only.
What does it mean for Jehovah to listen to a man? God knows better than you or I, so why would he ever listen to us? I guess it's like the way I want to agree to things that those I love suggest even when I am sure I know better. But I don't quite understand how God who knows all and does no wrong might be similar to this.
I think we are sometimes a bit too deist in our thinking. We think of God as a force in the universe rather than a person with feelings. The verse before the Psalm 91 passage gives the reason for God's listening as: because he has set his love on me. God wants us to love him, how can he be without emotions?
So is there any use in God listening to me?
And I sought for a man among them, that should make up the hedge, and stand in the gap before me for the land, that I should not destroy it: but I found none. (Ezekiel 22:30)
Yes, I can hold back his judgment and free him to show mercy. What a responsibility!

I love God, so I will ask God to give me more love for him and his creation, and he will listen to me. It is my task to believe that he has answered my prayer whatever I may feel.

Jesus' Friends

Listening to the first half of this sermon for devotion today: https://www.audioverse.org/english/sermons/recordings/5553/01making-friends-for-eternity-part-1.html

These text comes to mind:

Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you. (John 15:15)

True doctrine gives you a view of the character of God. The power for witnessing comes from a love for Jesus and his people.

Commit

Wherefore let them that suffer according to the will of God commit the keeping of their souls to him in well doing, as unto a faithful Creator. (1 Peter 4:19)

Maybe you are suffering. Maybe you don't feel you are suffering much. Either way, if you are living for Jesus then commit your life, your hopes, your reputation, your security to his power and to be his responsibility. He has commanded us to do good for others (Isaiah 58:6-7; Luke 12:33), if we commit to obey him, he commits to guarantee our present and eternal wellbeing, whatever that may look like.
Commit to Christ.

Be There

Then shalt thou call, and the LORD shall answer; thou shalt cry, and he shall say, Here I am. If thou take away from the midst of thee the yoke, the putting forth of the finger, and speaking vanity; (Isaiah 58:9)

21 And they shall build houses, and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and eat the fruit of them. 22 They shall not build, and another inhabit; they shall not plant, and another eat: for as the days of a tree are the days of my people, and mine elect shall long enjoy the work of their hands. 23 They shall not labour in vain, nor bring forth for trouble; for they are the seed of the blessed of the Lord, and their offspring with them. 24 And it shall come to pass, that before they call, I will answer; and while they are yet speaking, I will hear. 25 The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, and the lion shall eat straw like the bullock: and dust shall be the serpent's meat. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain, saith the Lord. (Isaiah 65:21-25)

The promise to those who are living for Christ is that when they call the Lord shall answer. This promise is echoed in Isaiah 65:24 where in the new Earth, Jesus will speak to us face to face. The new creation will be the ultimate fulfilment of God's promises to those who keep his law. There will be animals there, and they will live harmoniously with each other and with us. There will be buildings there, and agriculture, and we can all enjoy both the producing and the consuming of these things. These things take real work, so there will be real work in paradise. But not onerous work; work that we can enjoy. When Jesus makes the Earth new, you want to be there. Find out how you can please God now, so you can be there.

Jolly

All the days of the afflicted are evil: but he that is of a merry heart hath a continual feast. Proverbs 15:15

Being afflicted is not a bad thing; but you had better not stay that way. Being merry is a wonderful thing, try to be cheerful if you possibly can. Let's all cheer each other along the way instead of dragging each other down.

Unheard Prayer

Then shalt thou call, and the LORD shall answer; thou shalt cry, and he shall say, Here I am. If thou take away from the midst of thee the yoke, the putting forth of the finger, and speaking vanity; (Isaiah 58:9)

And when ye spread forth your hands, I will hide mine eyes from you: yea, when ye make many prayers, I will not hear: your hands are full of blood. (Isaiah 1:15)

For the people shall dwell in Zion at Jerusalem: thou shalt weep no more: he will be very gracious unto thee at the voice of thy cry; when he shall hear it, he will answer thee. (Isaiah 30:19)

The promises of Isaiah 58:9 are conditional on obedience to what God commands in the previous verses: loose the bands of wickedness… deal thy bread to the hungry and so on. These are personal promises of personal blessings for personal obedience to God's call for personal service. Although giving to charities can be a fulfilment of this command in some ways, the real fulfilment is in getting involved with needy people personally. I don't mean becoming a social worker. Just spending time with people who need that and giving practical assistance to people who need it. This can mean giving money, but it is more likely to mean losing income or spending money. We need this work if only for the promises that are conditional on it.

The reality is that God often does not answer prayer because he does not promise to listen to the selfish person. If I am not helping those in need but rather have their blood on my hands, then I cannot expect God to answer even my well-intentioned prayers.
But there is hope. God is kind and forgiving. Turn to him today, accept the way of life that he commands, and pray. God will answer every prayer of repentance from a heart that is truly sorry.

Remnant Protected

Then shall thy light break forth as the morning, and thine health shall spring forth speedily: and thy righteousness shall go before thee; the glory of the Lord shall be thy rearward. (Isaiah 58:8)

For ye shall not go out with haste, nor go by flight: for the Lord will go before you; and the God of Israel will be your rearward. (Isaiah 52:12)

And the angel of God, which went before the camp of Israel, removed and went behind them; and the pillar of the cloud went from before their face, and stood behind them: (Exodus 14:19)

In the KJV the word rearward is spelled "rereward" but this is auto-corrected to rearward and I'm fine with that. Those who are helping the needy will not be fleeing in terror when they are called out of Babylon. Jehovah will be our rear guard, he will preserve us from death and suffering if we live to to the close of probation. Jesus is calling his people out of Babylon, the system of religious confusion and into his remnant church. As God protected the Israelites in the desert, he will protect the remnant as the end of time.

Way of the Righteous

Then shall thy light break forth as the morning, and thine health shall spring forth speedily: and thy righteousness shall go before thee; the glory of the Lord shall be thy rearward. (Isaiah 58:8)

Righteousness shall go before him; and shall set us in the way of his steps. (Psalm 85:13)

And when he looked on him, he was afraid, and said, What is it, Lord? And he said unto him, Thy prayers and thine alms are come up for a memorial before God… And said, Cornelius, thy prayer is heard, and thine alms are had in remembrance in the sight of God… But in every nation he that feareth him, and worketh righteousness, is accepted with him. (Acts 10:4, 31, 35)

In Psalm 85:13 it is Jehovah that is in the third person. Righteousness shall go before Jevovah; and shall set us in the way of Jehovah's steps. The Psalm tells of Jehovah desiring to speak words of peace to his people, and describes the facets of salvation. It is incredible that some people think the Hebrew Scriptures are incompatible with the Greek Scriptures.
Jesus is not a racist. Jesus wants to give people of all languages and cultures his righteousness. Jesus wants us to live life in the safety of obedience to his law. Jesus the saviour is the same as Jehovah the law giver. (Jas 4:12) Come to Jesus with your sin, admit it is sin and ask him to save you from it. You will find yourself living in victory like you never imagined, and one day inherit eternal glory.
But one thing Jesus will do to give you victory is to give you a burden to save souls. If you do not act on this you will miss out on his blessing. Go ye… and make disciples. Amen.

Live for Christ

Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer: behold, the devil shall cast some of you into prison, that ye may be tried; and ye shall have tribulation ten days: be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life. (Revelation 2:10)

It is easy enough to say I would stand up to torture and death right now. But there is a real difference when it comes to actually facing it. I have experienced fear, and it is a powerful thing. Fear of death, fear of pain. You become desperate. It makes me wonder how to prepare myself for persecution. One thing I am sure of: if I will not live for Christ I will not die for him.

Theologians Then and Now

Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me. 40 And ye will not come to me, that ye might have life. 41 I receive not honour from men. 42 But I know you, that ye have not the love of God in you. 43 I am come in my Father's name, and ye receive me not: if another shall come in his own name, him ye will receive. 44 How can ye believe, which receive honour one of another, and seek not the honour that cometh from God only? 45 Do not think that I will accuse you to the Father: there is one that accuseth you, even Moses, in whom ye trust. 46 For had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed me: for he wrote of me. 47 But if ye believe not his writings, how shall ye believe my words? (John 5:39-47)

Do you consider yourself a Bible-believing Christian? Then this passage may be for you. The Pharisees were Bible-believing but they rejected the Messiah because he was not what the theologians expected. Jesus gives a clue to discovering him: look in the writings of Moses: the first five books of the Bible. Theologians today (even good ones) are like the Pharisees of old: citing and quoting each other to build their arguments. This does not make them bad. But the theologians will be far away when you answer to God. Your only safety is to know, love and serve Jesus, especially by reading and obeying his law recorded in Moses writings: the ten commandments.

Sure

1 Lord, how are they increased that trouble me!

many are they that rise up against me.

2 Many there be which say of my soul,

There is no help for him in God. Selah.

3 But thou, O Lord, art a shield for me;

my glory, and the lifter up of mine head.

4 I cried unto the Lord with my voice,

and he heard me out of his holy hill. Selah.

5 I laid me down and slept;

I awaked; for the Lord sustained me.

6 I will not be afraid of ten thousands of people,

that have set themselves against me round about.

7 Arise, O Lord; save me, O my God:

for thou hast smitten all mine enemies upon the cheek bone;

thou hast broken the teeth of the ungodly.

8 Salvation belongeth unto the Lord:

thy blessing is upon thy people. Selah. (Psalm 3)


No matter how rude people may be. No matter how much they may hate me or simply disregard me. No matter what danger I face, even if I am faced by and army or fear I will not see another morning as I go to sleep; the worst my enemies can do is kill me. This is to be my confidence: that Jesus is my saviour. Jesus will not allow me to sleep in death or endure pain forever. Because of Jesus all my troubles will end some day, they are transitory. The joy of my lord is eternal. Amen