Light some incense today!

TODAY’S SPECIAL: Revelation 7-9; Psalm 42

TO CHEW ON: “Then another angel having a golden censer, came and stood at the altar. He was given much incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of all the saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne. And the smoke of the incense with the prayers of the saints, ascended before God from the angel’s hand.” Revelation 8:3-4

In John’s vision, events in heaven continue to play out. He (the Lamb) opens the seventh seal to reveal an expanding vista of seven trumpets. The seven judgments they announce (8:2-11:18) are cataclysmic. The first four (found in our reading today) affect the natural world and remind us of the Egyptian plagues (hail, blood, polluted water, death to living creatures, darkness).

What I find fascinating are the two verses about the saints’ prayers that precede the fateful trumpet blasts. They seem almost out of place. Here, as earlier (Revelation 5:8), an angel presents these prayers to God as incense.

Incense has been associated with deity and worship since ancient times. Divination by interpreting the shapes that rose from incense smoke was an inexpensive way for poor people to determine the will of the gods. The Egyptians and other Gentile nations used it in their worship. Still today it is part of the practice of Buddhism, Christian Orthodoxy and other religions.

• In Old Testament religious practice, only the priests were allowed to offer incense. Moses’ instructions to Aaron included strict regulations concerning its makeup and use (Exodus 30:34-36). 

• God specifically forbade the personal mixing and use of the incense designed for worship (Exodus 30:37-38). 

• David first likened prayers to incense (Psalm 141:2). 

• God warned the Israelites through Isaiah that offerings, including the burning of incense, done while clinging to known sin were offensive to Him (Isaiah 1:13).  

• In Malachi its use symbolized the universal worship of God: “In every place incense shall be offered to My name…” Malachi 1:11

That the prayers of the saints (us!) should be equated with something as integral to worship as incense tells us how important they are to God. Here they are directly connected to the judgments that follow. For after presenting the incense prayers to God, the angel takes the golden censer that held them, fills it with fire from the altar, throws it to earth, and the action begins.

This focus on prayer makes me want to spend more time on this aspect of my relationship with God. As Barbara Billet expresses it:

“I ask You, Lord, that You would fill me with Your consuming fire today. I desire to be used as a house of prayer so that I can pray heartfelt, fervent, effectual prayers that will cause my prayer life to have much power, available, dynamic in its working.” Barbara Billet, Praying With Fire, p. 19

PRAYER: Dear God, please teach me to pray. Amen

PSALM TO PRAY: Psalm 42

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Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Jesus our praying priest

"Christ As Mediator: Christ showing His wounds to His Father" 
Artist unknown; Illustrator of 'Speculum humanae salvationis', 
Germany (?), c. 1400-1500

TODAY'S SPECIAL: Hebrews 7-8; Psalm 28

TO CHEW ON: "Therefore He is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them." - Hebrews 7:25

Theologian Wayne Grudem writes about how Jesus is pictured in Hebrews in relation to the Old Testament covenant:

"In the Old Testament, the priests were appointed by God to offer sacrifices. They also offered prayers and praise to God on behalf of the people. In so doing they 'sanctified' the people or made them acceptable to come into God's presence, albeit in a limited way during the Old Testament period. In the New Testament Jesus becomes our great high priest .... Jesus functions as priest in two ways:

1. Jesus offered a perfect sacrifice for sin (Hebrews 7:27; 9:12, 24-28; 10:1-2 and more).

2. Jesus continually brings us near to God (Hebrews 6:19-20 and more)" - Wayne Grudem, Systematic Theology p. 626, 627 (of course Grudem expands on these points).

And Jesus does one more thing as our high priest. "He always lives to make intercession ..." (Hebrews 7:25).  In other words, He continually prays for us.

Though Bible students have interpreted "intercession" in two ways: 1] as Jesus' presence mutely reminding God of our right-standing before Him and, 2] as Jesus actively interceding, the Greek word used for intercession here, entygchano, "clearly gives the sense of making requests or petitions before someone" - Gruden, p. 627.

How does Jesus know what to pray for? Well of course He knows everything so He knows the intricacies of our lives, our weaknesses, what will endanger, threaten, and tempt us. But implied here too, I believe, is the fact that we pray and He brings to God those prayers, petitions, sometimes even wordless groanings.  Grudem again:

"...Jesus continually lives in the presence of God to make specific requests and to bring specific petitions before God on our behalf .... Although God could care for all our needs in response to direct observation (Matthew 6:8), yet it has pleased God, in his relationship to the human race, to decide to act in response to prayer, apparently so that the faith shown through prayer might glorify him" - Grudem p. 628.

What an awesome privilege—to have our clumsily worded requests, tainted by our human imperfections, relayed to God by Jesus our eternal and perfect High Priest!

PRAYER: Thank You, Jesus, for being my High Priest, taking my prayers and interceding to God the Father on my behalf. Please teach me to pray. May my faith grow so that my life honours You more. Amen. 

PSALM TO PRAY: Psalm 28

MORE: "He always prays for us according to the Father's will"  (Grudem p. 628)

Grudem ends the section on Christ's role as interceding High Priest with this wonderful quote from Berkhof:

"It is a consoling thought that Christ is praying for us, even when we are negligent in our prayer life; that He is presenting to the Father those spiritual needs which were not present to our minds and which we often neglect to include in our prayers; and that He prays for our protection against the dangers of which we are not even conscious, and against the enemies which threaten us, though we do not notice it. He is praying that our faith may not cease, and that we may come out victoriously in the end" - Berkhof, Systematic Theology, p. 403, quoted in Grudem, p. 628.

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Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Pray for authorities

TODAY'S SPECIAL: 1 Timothy 1-2; Psalm 19

TO CHEW ON: "Therefore I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men, for kings and all who are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence." 1 Timothy 2:1-2


The instructions to pray for rulers and authorities must have been especially difficult for members of the early church. Their rulers were often cruel and repressive with no qualms about giving Christians a bad time. Followers of "The Way" were frequently scapegoats, accused of and then killed for crimes they had never committed.

In spite of this, Paul tells Timothy to instruct the people in his congregation to intercede and give thanks for all in leadership and authority positions. Still today, whether we like them or not, agree or disagree with their politics and decisions, we are to pray for those who rule and have authority — in our land and all over the world.

Dick Eastman in his book Love On Its Knees gives us some specific ways we can pray for leaders and authorities. First, he lays out a general "Micah Plan." It is based on praying out of Micah 6:8 — Micah's description of the lifestyle and conduct of a leader:

"He has shown you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?" 

From this Eastman suggests:

"- We must pray that a particular leader will do justly....that he or she will govern truthfully with a spirit of sincerity.
- We may pray that a leader will love mercy. This means he or she will govern compassionately with a spirit of generosity.
- We may pray that the leader will walk humbly with God. This means he or she will govern modestly and with a spirit of sensitivity."

Eastman then goes on to list seven specific things we can pray for leaders of our country and countries around the world:

1. That unjust leaders will make mistakes that help advance the Gospel of Jesus Christ (Psalm 109:26-29).

2. That tyrannical leaders will fall from power by receiving unsound advice (Psalm 5:10).

3. That godly leaders will discover spiritual wisdom to govern their nations (Proverbs 28:2).

4. That all leaders will receive a personal message of God's love (Isaiah 52:7).

5. That leaders in troubled nations will grow weary of continuing bloodshed in their lands (1 Kings 5:3-4).

6. That corrupt leaders will recognize their evil ways and turn to God (2 Chronicles 33:11-13).

7. That all leaders will realize that God alone gave them their positions of authority (Daniel 2:20-21) — Dick Eastman (Dick Eastman On Prayer: Love On Its Knees, excerpted from pages 97-101).

Let's spend some time praying for those in authority today.

PRAYER: Dear God, I confess I have often neglected to pray for the leaders of my land, province and city. Today I pray for my Prime Minister (or president or king...), the premier of my province (or governor of my state...), and the mayor of my city. May they be blessed with Your wisdom, have a personal sense of Your love, and acknowledge Your role in bringing them to their position and helping them carry out their responsibilities. Amen.

PSALM TO PRAY: Psalm 19

The Bible Project VIDEO: 1 Timothy (Read Scripture Series)




MORE: More authorities to pray for...

Elected, appointed, or self-appointed political rulers are not society's only authorities. Many other people have such positions, not formally recognized perhaps but by reason of their influence. Other authority figures for which we can and should pray could be:

1. Judges and members of law enforcement, including the police and the military.

2. Educators which would include teachers, college and university professors, even our kids' sports coaches.

3. Cultural authorities such as entertainers and sports figures.

4. Commercial authorities such as business leaders, and members of the media.

Perhaps you can think of even more...

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Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Prayer—fighting the darkness

TODAY'S SPECIAL: Daniel 10-12; Psalm 58

TO CHEW ON: "Then he said to me, 'Do not fear, Daniel, for from the first day that you set your heart to understand, and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard; and I have come because of your words. But the prince of the Kingdom of Persia withstood me twenty-one days.'" Daniel 10:12,13


Daniel 10 tells the interesting story of Daniel spending a considerable time in mourning-prayer and fasting as he seeks to understand a message he has received.  After three full weeks he gets a heavenly visitor, a "man"—obviously an angel (Daniel 10:5-6)—who appears to him and says, "...from the first day that you set your heart to understand, your words were heard..."

So why does this angel wait three weeks before coming?

Because he himself was  tied up, fighting spiritual forces (Daniel 10:13).

The writer of my Bible's notes on Daniel explains this section:

"This is one of the clearest OT examples that demonic armies oppose God's purposes and that earthly struggles often reflect what is happening in the heavenlies, and that prayer with fasting may affect the outcome" - Coleman Cox Phillips, New Spirit-Filled Life Bible, p. 1136 (emphasis added).

What does this glimpse into the spiritual realm mean for us? Dick Eastman in his book Love On Its Knees makes the following points about the Christian's mission, and fighting spiritual resistance with prayer:

1. "It is God's desire to see every person on earth provided access to the Gospel of Jesus Christ... (2 Peter 3:9; Mark 13:10; Matthew 24:14).

2. "It is Satan's plan to prevent every unbeliever from receiving access to the Gospel of Jesus Christ... (2 Timothy 2:25-26; Ephesians 2:1,2).

3. "It is the Church's duty to take the Gospel of Jesus Christ to every person on earth ... (Matthew 28:18-20; Mark 16:15).

4. "It is the intercessor's responsibility to hold back the unseen forces of satanic darkness wherever the Gospel of Jesus Christ is shared ... (Ephesians 6:10-12; 2 Thessalonians 3:1,2).

"... intercessors who contend for lost souls do indeed help add names to the Lamb's Book of Life. They may not be aware that they are sweeping through the heavenlies on their knees, or that they are contending against the darkness for a soul who has just been confronted with the claims of Christ, but their prayers make the harvest possible." - Dick Eastman, excerpts from Love On Its Knees, pages 166-171).

We don't need to know the names or territories of the demonic forces we fight, but being aware that our prayers are Kingdom warfare, and that spiritual battles take time is crucial, I believe, to our preparedness and perseverance.

PRAYER: Dear God, please convict me of the importance and effectiveness of intercessory prayer for the advancement of Your Kingdom. Help me not to be discouraged when the answers take long time to come. Amen.

PSALM TO PRAY: Psalm 58

MORE: Prayer is...

"Prayer is God's supreme gift to assist the Church in establishing His Kingdom throughout the earth" - Dick Eastman, Love On Its Knees, p. 161.

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New King James Version (NKJV) Used with permission. The Holy Bible, New King James Version Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.

The prayer that changed a nation's story

TODAY'S SPECIAL: Nehemiah 1-3; Psalm 48

TO CHEW ON: "And so it was, when I heard these words that I sat down and wept and mourned for many days' I was fasting and praying before the God of heaven." - Nehemiah 1:4


The word economy of the Bible quickly gets us to the crux of the matter in this story that takes place at the end of the Old Testament time. The described state of his fellow Hebrews in Jerusalem distresses Nehemiah (who is a servant of Persian King Artaxerxes) immensely. So he does what we should all do when we're distressed—goes to the One who can help.

Nehemiah 1:5-11 is Nehemiah's heartfelt prayer. Let's look closely at it to see what we can learn about prayer from it.

1. Nehemiah begins by addressing God: "Lord God of heaven, O great and awesome God..." His beginning puts him in his place and vaults God to His. By saying these faith-building words (Nehemiah 1:5) Nehemiah also reminds himself of God's power and ability to answer.

2. Nehemiah includes himself with the people (Nehemiah 1:6-7).  Though he is many miles away and probably hasn't participated personally in the sins he confesses, he stands in solidarity with his countrymen. His identification with them also shows his understanding of how God works in and through nations.

3. He prays God's words back to Him. Nehemiah 1:8-9 are a paraphrase a Moses' words in Leviticus and Deuteronomy, recalling words of warning and blessing to Israel from centuries earlier (see Leviticus 26:33 and Deuteronomy 4:25-27, 29-30; 28:63-67; 30:4).

4. He names his request. He reminds God of the investment He has already made in Israel (Nehemiah 1:10) and pleads for mercy, for himself (from his boss, the King of Persia; 'would God move the heart of a king to give him favor?') and in that, also for all of Israel (Nehemiah 1:11).

The rest of the book of Nehemiah tells the story of how King Artaxerxes releases Nehemiah from his duties, finances and equips his trip to Jerusalem, and then how Nehemiah leads the rebuilding of the Jerusalem wall and eventually a spiritual revival.

What large and small things are troubling us today? Let's pray about them. Let's pray remembering how big and capable God is in contrast to our own neediness, frailty, and unworthiness. Let's pray God's words—His promises—back to Him, naming our requests with all the passion and emotion they bring up in his.

PRAYER: Dear God, thank You for prayer. Help me to realize that a burden about a situation or person is also an invitation to pray about it. Help me to pray from my heart,  with faith in You and Your power. Amen.

PSALM TO PRAY: Psalm 48

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Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Intercession: patriotism at its highest

TODAY'S SPECIAL: Lamentations 3; Psalm 29

TO CHEW ON: "My eyes overflow with rivers of water

For the destruction of the daughter of my people.

My eyes flow and do not cease

Without interruption

Till the Lord from heaven

Looks down and sees." Lamentations 3:48-50

Jeremiah* here shows himself a patriot whose heart breaks when God comes through with threatened judgments against Judah. What a picture of persevering intercession for his nation!

We are reminded of other leaders who prayed for their people.

• Moses interceded for Israel when God threatened to destroy them after the golden calf incident (Exodus 32:30-32), and again when God's anger was hot at their refusal to enter Canaan (Numbers 14:17-19).

• Samuel prayed for the people when they wanted to return to God after a time of backsliding (1 Samuel 7:2-6).

• David interceded for God's mercy on the people after they were inflicted by a plague following his sin of initiating a census (1 Chronicles 21:16-19).

We don't have to be leaders to intercede for our country. Dick Eastman says of the intercessor:

"An intercessor is a man or woman—or child—who fights on behalf of others. As such, intercession is the activity that identifies us most with Christ. To be an intercessor is to be like Jesus because that is what Jesus is like. He ever lives to intercede (Hebrews 7:25; Romans 8:34)!"

Eastman goes on to give four insights that help us understand the role of the intercessor and grasp its impact:

1. We must understand our "privilege" as intercessors. Christ is ever at God's right hand (Romans 8:34 linked above), and from this position He intercedes for the saints continuously. To be at God's right hand is spoken of in the Bible as being a great privilege and pleasure (Psalm 16:11).

2. We must understand our "position" as intercessors. We are energized (Ephesians 2:45), elevated (Ephesians 2:6: "raised... up together"), and enthroned with Christ in intercession (Mark 11:22-24).

3. We must understand our "promise" as intercessors. Our objective is to see God's Kingdom established (Isaiah 11:9).

4. We must understand our "power" as intercessors. See Luke 10:19... "Our Lord is saying that those who move in the direction of involvement and are willing to pay the price of intervention will have all the power necessary to confront demonic forces in their citadels."

— Dick Eastman, summary and quotes from Love on its Knees, pp. 21-25.

What a privilege to be able to serve one's country in this way!

PRAYER: Dear God, please give me the urgency and conviction of interceding for my nation that I see in Moses, Samuel, David and Jeremiah. Amen.

MORE: Intercession's impact

"I am convinced that when we stand before God with the record of spiritual successes and failures, we will learn that intercessory prayer had more to do with bringing about positive changes in our world than any other single spiritual activity." - Dick Eastman, Love On Its Knees, p. 17.


* "The author (of Lamentations) is not named, but traditions long before Christ claim that Jeremiah wrote it"  - Paul B. Watney,  "Introduction to Jeremiah," New Spirit-Filled Life Bible, p. 1036.


PSALM TO PRAY: Psalm 29

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Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Is prayer really necessary?

Image: Pixabay

TODAY’S SPECIAL: Exodus 2:11-25

TO CHEW ON: “So God heard their groaning, and God remembered His covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and with Jacob. And God looked upon the children of Israel and God acknowledged them.” Exodus 2:24,25

Meanwhile back in Egypt, where we left the Israelites a week ago, the people were getting desperate  Under their cruel slave masters they “groaned” and “cried out” - Exodus 2:23.

Then God heard, remembered, looked and acknowledged - Exodus 2:24,25. I looked up each of these words in the Hebrews. Their meanings are pretty straightforward:

Heard - Shama
Remembered - Zakar
Looked - Ra’ah
Acknowledged - Yada

It appears the Israelites got God’s attention But they did something to get it: they groaned and cried out.

This isn’t the only time such a thing is mentioned. Notice what Abraham’s divine visitor said about why God chose to act over the situation in Sodom and Gomorrah: “‘I will go down now and see whether they (the citizens of Sodom and Gomorrah) have done altogether according to the outcry against it that has come to me…’” Genesis 18:21.

The word for “outcry” is tsaqah. The same word is used in God’s conversation with Moses to describe Israel’s present condition in the next chapter - Exodus 3:7.

That outcry was also the action of the Israelites that God responded to when He gave them a king - 1 Samuel 9:16.

To me this speaks of the necessity of prayer. Here is how some of history’s prayer warriors have described the importance of prayer:

“Prayer is the contact of a living soul with God. In prayer, God stoops to kiss man, to bless man, and to aid in everything that God can devise or man can need” - E. M. Bounds

“Prayer is the slender nerve that moveth the muscles of omnipotence” - Charles Spurgeon.

“In prayer you align yourselves to the purpose and power of God and He is able to do things through you that He couldn’t do otherwise. For this is an open universe, where some things are left open, contingent upon our doing them. If we do not do them, they will never be done. For God has left certain things open to prayer—things which will never be done except as we pray” - E. Stanley Jones.

- All quotes taken from the “Introduction” to The Hour that Changes the World by Dick Eastman, emphasis added.

What things distress us to the point of crying out? What issues in our lives need God’s hearing, remembering, looking, and acknowledging? Let’s keep crying out in prayer over these things.



PRAYER: Dear Father, thank You for the privilege and responsibility of prayer. Help me to pray with faith that You will, in Your time, hear, remember, look, and acknowledge. Amen.

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Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Divine prayer-Helper

TODAY'S SPECIAL: Romans 8:18-39


TO CHEW ON: "Likewise the Spirit also helps us in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groaning which cannot be uttered." Romans 8:26

The verse I chose as our focus today is both mysterious and comforting. Mysterious in that it raises several questions:

• Is the Spirit praying here, or are we?
• What activity, on our part, does this deep intercessory prayer involve?
• Does this "groaning which cannot be uttered" mean that this is silent prayer or...?

My Bible's footnotes about this passage shed some light. About Romans 8:26 it says:

"The Greek word translated helps is used in Luke 10:40 where Martha wants Mary to come and help her. The word does not indicate that the Holy Spirit prays instead of us, but that the Holy Spirit takes part with us and makes our weak prayers effective.


[...] If vs. 26 refers to "groaning" of the Holy Spirit which we cannot hear, then the verse simply gives encouragement that the Holy Spirit prays for us and adds effective prayer when we do not pray effectively. But if, as seems more likely, the verse refers to our "groaning" in prayer, then it means that those sighs, groans, loud 'cries and tears' - Hebrews 5:7- and other expressions of our hearts and spirits in prayer are taken by the Holy Spirit and made into effectual intercession before the throne of God" - Wayne Grudem, commentary on Romans in the New Spirit-Filled Life Bible, p. 1562.

And that's where the comfort lies. For when we are so overcome with grief or confusion, or outrage, or empathy or any number of emotions that all we can do is blubber, the Holy Spirit translates our inarticulate communication into effective intercession.

So let's bring our deep emotional issues to God, even if we don't know what to pray for or how to frame our prayer in words, confident that we have a divine prayer helper.

PRAYER: Dear Holy Spirit, thank You for this promise of your aid in our prayers. Help me to take You up on Your promise to intercede effectively and accurately when I don't know what to pray for. Amen.

MORE: More on the Spirit and prayer

"Unquestionably, all of us need massive help with praying aright. So set is our flesh against praying at all that the Helper's first task is to create in us even the basic desire to pray. He is the One who also spotlights for us the prayer-need or topic for prayer by creating a 'concern' within us" - Catherine Marshall (quoted in Prayer Powerpoints p. 100).

"Acknowledge you can't really pray without the direction and energy of the Holy Spirit. Ask God to utterly control you by His Spirit, receive by faith that He does, and thank Him" - Joy Dawson (quoted in Prayer Powerpoints p. 98).

"We wish to pray in the spirit and at the same time walk after the flesh, and this is impossible" - Andrew Murray (quoted in Prayer Powerpoints p. 98).

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Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Intercessor

TODAY'S SPECIAL: Genesis 18:16-33

TO CHEW ON: "Then the men turned away from there and went toward Sodom, but Abraham still stood before the Lord." Genesis 18:22

Here we see Abraham, in effect begging for the life of one of his family members and the inhabitants of the whole city. He knew his nephew Lot had settled in Sodom. Now the Lord had said He intended to destroy the city for its wickedness and Abraham was probably thinking,  Surely Lot isn't one of those wicked.

Abraham was such an effective intercessor he got the number of righteous for which God would spare the city from fifty down to ten.

Abraham, in his role, reminds me of another intercessor: Jesus.

His intercession is prophesied in Isaiah - Isaiah 53:12; 59:16.

During His earthly ministry He interceded

• for weak believers - Luke 22:32
• for His enemies - Luke 23:34
• that the Father would send the Holy Spirit - Luke 11:13
• and for the church - John 17:9.

As our risen Saviour, He continues to intercede before God

• for our acceptance - Romans 8:34
• and for our salvation - Hebrews 7:25

As those who have put our faith in Christ, we too have the noble task of interceding for others. Dick Eastman in his book The Hour that Changes the World defines intercession and gives us insights into it. Here are a few of them:

"What is intercession? It is God's method for involving His followers more completely in the totality of His plan .... Basically, intercession is prayer offered in behalf of another .... To intercede is to mediate. It is to stand between a lost being and an almighty God, praying that this person will come to know about God and His salvation .... Intercession is the broadest scope of prayer. There is no other mode of prayer that reaches out to all the world as does intercessory prayer .... Fill your intercession with the four key scriptural claims: Ask God to give more labourers to the harvest, to open doors for these workers, to bless them with fruit as the result of their efforts, and with finances to expand their work" - Dick Eastman, The Hour that Changes the World, pp. 75-85.

Abraham's prayer here is one of the Twelve Great Prayers of the Old Testament. In his book Great Prayers of the Old Testament, Walter Brueggemann says of Abraham and his venture into prayer:

"The exchange exhibits Abraham as a daring man of faith. More importantly, it presents YHWH as a ready and available partner in the free play of prayer in which the destiny of the world hangs in the balance and is under intense negotiation" - Walter Brueggemann, Great Prayers of the Old Testament, p. 8 (Kindle Edition). 

PRAYER: Dear God, thank You for the example of Abraham's intercession. Help me to be a more effective intercessor for my loved ones as well as for people around the world. Please teach me to intercede. Amen. 

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Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
 

Spiritual benefits of insomnia

TODAY'S SPECIAL: Psalm 16:1-11

TO CHEW ON: "I will bless the Lord who has given me counsel;
My heart also instructs me in the night seasons." Psalm 16:7


What do you do when you can't sleep at night? Fret? Toss and turn? Count sheep? Take a pill?

Night wakefulness is referred to quite a few times in the Bible.

• For Job's friend Elihu it was a time of hearing God's songs (Job 35:10).

• For the psalmist Korah it was also a time of lingering songs as well as prayer (Psalm 42:8).

• For Psalm-writer Asaph night songs evoked meditation and spirit searching (Psalm 77:6).

• When Israel faced the Assyrians, Isaiah prophesied, not nighttime thoughts of dread and foreboding but "a song as in the night when a holy festival is kept" (Isaiah 30:29).

• Who can forget Paul and Silas, locked in stocks in a jail in Philippi, praying and singing hymns at midnight? We remember the miraculous jail break that followed (Acts 16:25, 26)!

• And in our psalm today, David testifies of God instructing him in the night seasons.

So next time we're troubled by insomnia, perhaps we should pause our fretting, turn our attention to God, and ask:

~ Do you have a song for me?
 
~ What Bible verses could I meditate on?
 
~ Who or what situation needs prayer?

~ Is there a battle somewhere that could be impacted by my praise and prayer?

PRAYER: Dear God, You know I don't usually think of sleeplessness as a good thing. Please help me to remember that it can be a time of prayer, song, counsel, meditation and spiritual warfare. Amen.

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Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Prayer—the battle on another level

Public Domain image from The Story of the Bible by Charles Foster, 

Illustrations by F. B. Schell and others

TODAY’S SPECIAL: Exodus 17:1-16

TO CHEW ON: “But Moses’ hands became heavy; so they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat on it. And Aaron and Hur supported his hands, one on one side, and the other on the other side; and his hands were steady until the going down of the sun.” Exodus 17:12

We might consider the battle strategy that God gave Moses to defeat Amalek a little strange. There was an army and a captain (Joshua) naturally enough, but there were also onlookers. The main one was their leader, Moses, observing the battle from a hilltop. He had his arms raised to heaven. As long as he kept them up, the Israelite army prevailed. But when his arms got tired and he lowered them, Amalek prevailed.

So Aaron and Hur stood on either side of him and helped him keep his arms raised. By the end of the day, using these tactics, Joshua and the army below defeated Amalek.

I see this as a picture of how we need to fight our day-to-day battles.

• They are also waged on two levels—the actual battleground of our life or church, or school, or community and in the spiritual realm.

• Moses with his hands raised is a picture of our dependence on God. Moses is the personification, here, of prayer which should accompany each earthly battle of ours as well, from the war against our own sinful nature to the battle against the forces of evil and darkness in our families, churches, communities, countries, and the world.

• Aaron and Hur are the intercessors—the pray-ers who help us to pray without ceasing, who keep our hands of prayer raised when we become too tired to keep them up on our own.

• Israel’s battle went on for the whole day. It wasn’t until sunset that Israel left the battlefield victorious. Joshua and Hur stayed with Moses and kept his arms raised for the duration. We’d like our battles and those of our friends’ to be won and over in an instant. But that’s not how it works most of the time. Do we stick it out till the final victory in our own battles and in our intercession for others?

PRAYER: Dear Father, thank You for this picture of prayer. Help me to be faithful and persevering in prayer for the battles I face and in holding up the arms of others in intercession. Amen.

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Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Roar

"Last Judgment" by Peter Von Cornelius

TODAY'S SPECIAL: Joel 3:1-21

TO CHEW ON: "But the Lord also will roar from Zion,

And utter His voice from Jerusalem;

The heavens and earth will shake;

but the Lord will be a shelter for His people,

And the strength of the children of Israel." Joel 3:16

Here, as we come to the last part of Joel's prophecy we see another side of God as He gathers the nations for judgment. Like prophets tend to do, Joel has leaped ahead in time. He goes from talking about God's punishment of Judah (his audience) to a time in the future.

Yesterday he spoke of a time ("...afterward...") when God would pour out His Spirit on everyone. Today we see another event connected to that time ("For behold in those days and at that time..." [referring back to Joel 2:28-30]). It's a gathering of nations for judgment in the Valley of Jehoshaphat.

Where is this place?

Jerry Cook, writer of my Bible's study notes on Joel, says, "In Jewish tradition this is thought to be part of the Kidron Valley between the temple and the Mount of Olives. 'Jehoshaphat' means 'Yahweh is Judge.' This, therefore, may be a symbolic place of judgment and decision rather than an actual place in Joel's mind" (New Spirit Filled Life Bible, p. 1167).

Joel sees the nations gathering there for God's verdict on their roles in history and specifically their relationships to Israel.

God shows Himself a ferocious judge. He will "roar." [Sha'ag a word used to describe the roar of a lion or the rumble of thunder. A word study in my Bible says that though sha'ag is used occasionally to describe angry, growling men, most of the time it describes the roaring God does as He goes to battle—here against Israel's enemies.]

These days God is rarely depicted as roaring, fierce, and terrible. We are familiar with the Good Shepherd image of Him, or the unconditionally loving friend, or the dispenser of unlimited grace. And He is those things. But He is also a God who roars. I sometimes wish that I could live one day with the Israelites as they gathered at the foot of Mount Sinai and experienced this roaring, flinty-fierce side of God. I'm sure it would smarten me up in my own often casual approach to Him.

It would also probably give me new eyes with which to see my unsaved family members, neighbors and friends. A comment in my Bible describes a possible reaction to Joel's image of the Valley of Decision: (Joel 3:9-16): "Cry out to God, and ask Him to give you spiritual eyes to see the multitudes of people still in the valley of decision" (New Spirit Filled Bible, p. 1169).

PRAYER: Dear God, please forgive me for my so-often casual approach to You. Help me to see You accurately and order my life in a way that acknowledges Your holiness and justice as well as Your love and grace. Amen.


MORE: "Worthy" sung by Paul Wilbur



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Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Do your 8-12-year-olds have daily devotions? Point them to Bible Drive-Thru.

The work of intercession

Image: Pixabay

TODAY'S SPECIAL: Joel 2:1-17

TO CHEW ON: "Let the priests who minister to the Lord, Weep between the porch and the altar; Let them say, 'Spare your people, O Lord, And do not give Your heritage to reproach, That the nations should rule over them. Why should they say among the peoples, "Where is their God?"'" Joel 2:17

The scene in Judah that Joel paints is hellish. Locusts advance like an army:
"With a noise like chariots
      Over mountaintops they leap,
      Like the noise of a flaming fire that devours the stubble,
      Like a strong people set in battle array" Joel 2:5.

The people are terrified:
"Before them the people writhe in pain;
      All faces are drained of color" - Joel 2:6.

The only appropriate response is repentance (Joel 2:12-13) and intercession.

When Joel said to the priests, "weep between the porch and the altar," he was referring to the space between the porch of the temple and the altar of burnt offering. This was right in front of the door of the Holy Place where God's presence lived. The priests were to mediate and intercede with God for the people there.

Intercession is the noun we get from the verb intercede, which means:
1. To plead or petition in behalf of another or others.
2. To come between parties in a dispute; mediate.

We can see that interceding is exactly what the priests were doing when they entered the temple, physically stationing themselves between God and the people, and there pleading for them.

Intercession has several parts to it.
    ▪    It involves identification, as we recognize another's hurt and distress.
    ▪    It often involves agony. I have heard intercessors describe how, during times of deep intercession, they are overcome with pain and the sense that they are actually participating in the situation for which they are praying; weeping is not uncommon.
    ▪    Intercession is also praying with authority, as the intercessor claims God's promises for the person or situation for which they are praying.


Look at these intercessors in action:

• Moses interceded for Israel: Exodus 32:11, Deuteronomy 9:25-29

• Moses prayed for his sister Miriam: Numbers 12:13

• Samuel prayed for Israel: 1 Samuel 7:5-6

• David interceded for the people who were suffering and dying for a sin he had committed - 1 Chronicles 21:16-17.

• Hezekiah prayed for those ill Passover celebrants who had failed to follow the prescribed way to prepare for the feast - 2 Chronicles 30:18-20.

• Jesus prayed for Peter before his denial fiasco (or it might have been much worse): Luke 22:31-32.

• Paul prayed for the Ephesians: Ephesians 1:15-21.

• Jesus is interceding for us right now:

“Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril or sword… Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us” - Romans 8:34-37. (emphasis added).

E. M. Bounds, who wrote much about prayer says: “How enthroned, magnificent, and royal the intercession of our Lord Jesus Christ at his Father’s right hand in heaven! The benefits of his intercession flow to us through our intercessions. Our intercession ought to catch by contagion, and by necessity the inspiration and largeness of Christ’s great work at his Father’s right hand. His business and his life are to pray. Our business and our lives ought to be to pray, and to pray without ceasing” - E. M. Bounds, The Complete Work of E. M. Bounds, Kindle Location 2529 (emphasis added).

For whom are you and I burdened to intercede? Who will we love and work for with intercession in our families, our churches, our cities, our countries, indeed in the world, today?

PRAYER: Dear God, impress on me again how urgent intercession is. Help me to be one of those "priests...who weep between the porch and the altar" for my world. Amen.

MORE: Ash Wednesday

Today is Ash Wednesday, traditionally a day of fasting and the first day of Lent in Western Christianity.

Here is the collect prayer that begins the day's liturgy:

Almighty and everlasting God, you hate nothing you have made and forgive the sins of all who are penitent: Create and make in us new and contrite hearts, that we, worthily lamenting our sins and acknowledging our wretchedness, may obtain of you, the God of all mercy, perfect remission and forgiveness; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

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Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Cry to the Lord!

Locust  (Image from Pixabay)

TODAY’S SPECIAL: Joel 1:1-20

TO CHEW ON: “Consecrate a fast,
Call a sacred assembly;
Gather the elders
And all the inhabitants of the land
Into the house of the LORD your God,
And cry out to the LORD.” Joel 1:14


In the next days we’ll be reading the entire book of Joel. So a little background is in order.

Joel was a prophet to Judah. The introduction to the book in my study Bible dates his ministry during the reign of Joash when, under the high priest Jehoiada, the worship of God had been restored (2 Kings 11:1-21; 2 Chronicles 23:16).

The catalyst event to writing the prophecy was a locust plague so bad there was nothing left. Fig trees were ruined, offering grains cut off, wine (grapes) dried up, oil (olives) failed, vine, pomegranate, apple all withered - Joel 1:7-12.

Joel interpreted this as the judgment of God. He did not pick that idea out of the blue, for Moses had warned in one of his Deuteronomy sermons of just such a curse as a consequence of disobedience - Deuteronomy 28:15, 42.

And so Joel summoned the priests, elders, and people to radical repentance: “… lament, Wail… Come, lie all night in sackcloth, consecrate a fast, Call a sacred assembly; Gather the elders…. And cry out to the LORD” - Joel 1:13,14.

Might we do something similar when the bottom falls out of life for us, personally, for our family, our city, our country? We probably won’t experience a literal locust plague but some modern events are just as devastating: fires (who can forget the horror of last summer’s  wildfire in Fort McMurray), hurricanes, earthquakes, ice storms, vehicle accidents, cancer diagnoses, the death of a loved one…

Or we may be grieved by the moral locust plague that is destroying our society’s foundations. It's an attack:

• On the family (new definitions of marriage, fluid sexual identity, pornography). 
• On life (abortion, legal euthanasia, homelessness). 
• On law and order (rampant rebellion, disorder, and violence under the guise of “free speech,” drug permissiveness and addiction, a lax judiciary which is often more lenient toward the perpetrator than the victim),
• On thought and speech (as political correctness which claims to understand the motivation behind actions and to silence speech that would challenge society’s changing mores).

I’m not saying that when tragedy strikes we’re necessarily to blame or that we should take that responsibility on ourselves. It may not be our fault.  But let’s let our understandable panic, desperation, confusion, lack of solutions, even despair draw us to God and prayer with the fervor of Joel in his summons to the locust victims of his day.

Charlie Hall’s song “Holy Visitation” (sung here by Rita Springer) is a modern invitation to such a passionate encounter with God over these things.




PRAYER: “O LORD, to You I cry out"...for my country and this generation.”Amen. (Joel 1:19)

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Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

A challenge to us as followers

TODAY'S SPECIAL: Titus 1:1-16

TO CHEW ON: "For a bishop must be blameless, as a steward of God, not self-willed, not quick-tempered, not given to wine, not violent, not greedy for money." Titus 1:7

Those of us who attend church with pastor leaders are well aware of the hazards of such a position. Pastors get criticized for a multitude of things: their leadership style, their sermons, how organized or disorganized they are, the hours they work or don't, not visiting the sick and shut-ins or visiting too much, driving too big and fancy a car or looking too poor… and the list could go on.

Paul's letter to Titus deals with choosing church leaders and lists some of the qualifications they should have. Paul tells Titus to choose bishops (overseers) who are: (quotes in parenthesis are from the Amplified Bible).

• "blameless" ("of unquestionable integrity")
• "the husband of one wife" 
• good fathers whose children are described as "faithful … not accused of dissipation or insubordination" ("well-trained … believers … not  … loose in morals and conduct or unruly or disorderly")
• "not self-willed" ("arrogant or presumptuous")
• "not quick-tempered" 
• "not given to wine"
• "not violent" ("pugnacious, brawling")
• "not greedy ("grasping … for filthy lucre [financial gain])"
• "hospitable" ("loving and a friend to believers, especially to strangers and foreigners")
• "lovers of what is good" ("of good people and good things")
• "sober-minded" ("sensible, discreet")
• "just" ("upright and fair-minded")
• "holy" ("a devout man and religiously correct")
• "self-controlled" ("temperate and keeping himself in hand")
• "holding fast the faithful word he has been taught"
• "able… to exhort and convict those who contradict" ("able both to give stimulating instruction and encouragement in sound {wholesome} doctrine and to refute and convict those who contradict and oppose it [showing the wayward their error]")

Even though this list is over 2000 years old, it is still applicable to church leaders today. However, rather than using it as a yardstick to point out ways our pastors don't measure up, let's use it as a template for prayer that they do and will.

In their positions pastors and other church leaders are targets of not only us who are followers in their congregations but the watching world. Probably nothing makes the devil happier than when a prominent man or woman of God gets tangled in sin.

So with all our hearts, let's fill our months with intercession for our pastors in these many areas rather than criticism.


PRAYER: Dear God, I pray for my pastor and Your under-shepherds all over the world.  May these men and women stay pure and dedicated as they work as stewards in Your church. Amen.

MORE: Fourth Sunday of Advent
Today the church celebrates the Fourth Sunday of Advent. If there is a Christmas story character focus today, I'd guess it would be "Shepherds."

The Fourth Advent Sunday liturgy begins with this collect:

"Purify our conscience, Almighty God, by your daily visitation, that your Son Jesus Christ, at his coming, may find in us a mansion prepared for himself; who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen"

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New King James Version (NKJV) Used with permission. The Holy Bible, New King James Version Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.

Some scripture quotes are taken from the Amplified® Bible,
Copyright © 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation
Used by permission." (www.Lockman.org)

An intercessor's tears

Jeremiah by Rembrandt

TODAY'S SPECIAL: Jeremiah 8:18-9:3

TO CHEW ON: "Oh that my head were waters,
And my eyes a fountain of tears,
That I might weep day and night
For the slain of the daughter of my people!" - Jeremiah 9:1

It is because of passages like this that Jeremiah is called the "weeping prophet."

Why does he weep?

Here he has just predicted the dreadful future God has showed him:
- The land is barren.
- Foreign invaders devastate the countryside and the cities.
- His people are in exile and cry "From a far country" - Jeremiah 8:19.
- It is the end of hope.

No doubt his tears are part sorrow for the grief he sees is in store for the people he loves—no matter how they treat him. But these things haven't happened yet. So could his tears also be the welling up of a spirit of intercession within him?

Dick Eastman in his book Love on Its Knees puts the word "intercession" under the microscope:

[Intercession is derived from the two Latin words inter and cedere: inter meaning "between," "among," "involved," intervention"; and cedere meaning "to go," "to yield," "to move," or" to pay the price of" - Dick Eastman, Love on Its Knees, p. 20.]

He goes on to list four implications about intercession from its meaning:

• "First, the roots suggest that intercession means "to go between," as when stepping between someone and his enemy in battle.

• Second, these terms describe one who "yields himself" among those who are weak and need assistance.

• Third, intercession is a "moving in the direction of involvement" regarding the needs and hurts of others…

• Finally, intercession means "to pay the price of intervention" - Eastman, Ibid (emphasis added).

Can you see how Jeremiah is this kind of intercessor? Though it costs him popularity, comfort, and safety, he feels compelled to speak God's words to his countrymen. He continues on, delivering God's warnings despite rejection, even threats, identifying with his people to the point of tears. (Jeremiah's tears remind us of another intercessor, who also wept over the people who rejected Him  - Luke 19:41).

Do we have such love for the unsaved, such an abhorrence of their eternal future without God that we would make ourselves available to intercede to this extent? For I believe such prayer, indeed such an intercessory life, happens only as the Holy Spirit empowers and prays through us.

PRAYER: Dear God, please grow in me the spirit of intercession to the point of tears—the intercession I see in Jeremiah and Jesus. Amen. 

MORE: Weeping prayers

"At times, God calls us to weep. This is His call to empathy, to vicarious intercessory identification with others. At such times, we must be sure to pray 'us' prayers and not 'them' prayers. We must identify with those in need, rather than condemn and accuse" - Wesley Duewel (quoted in Prayer Powerpoints, p. 163).

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Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Erecting memorials on our knees

TODAY’S SPECIAL: Acts 10:1-16

TO CHEW ON: “About the ninth hour of the day, he saw clearly in the vision an angel of God coming in and saying to him, ‘Cornelius!’ And when he observed him he was afraid, and said, ‘What is it Lord?’ So he said to him, “Your prayers and your alms have come up for a memorial to God.’ Acts 10:3,4

It has become customary in the last few years to erect roadside memorials near the sites of accidents where people have died. You’ll find such fading crosses and makeshift cairns along many a Canadian roadside and street. Though at first they are surrounded by flowers, teddy bears, cards and other bits of memorabilia, the continued care of some surprises me. It probably shouldn’t, because it’s not unusual to want to keep the memory of a loved one alive. A tidy, well-maintained memorial is testimony to the fact that someone wants the world to keep remembering the person they loved.

The angel who came to Cornelius called his alms and prayers “a memorial before God.”

[Memorial [mnemon – here mnemosunom]: means mindful, to call to mind, to make mention of. It is also translated recall, remember, remembered, remembering, thinking.]

In the Bible a memorial is usually a reminder to us (humans) about some aspect of God and our relationship to Him. Feasts (the Passover, the Lord’s Supper) are called memorials (Exodus 13:9, 1 Corinthians 11:24). They remind us of God’s action on our behalf. The memorial manna sample was a reminder of God’s care in giving the Israelites  daily food (Exodus 16:32). The extravagant anointing of Jesus’ feet by Mary of Bethany at Simon's dinner was the memorial she left to us as someone who loved well (Matthew 26:13). Here, though, the memorial goes the other way. Cornelius’s alms and prayers reminded God of him (Acts 10:4).

I believe our prayers operate in the same way. It’s comforting to think of petitions uttered on behalf of friends, kids, family members, communities, countries, leaders, even the world as little crosses beside the streets of heaven – little reminders to God: Don’t forget Susie with cancer, Doug the prodigal, Chad the missionary, my Prime Minister, the victims of current natural disasters… Let’s keep praying and maintaining our memorials as strong, fresh, and urgent before God.

PRAYER: Dear God, thank You for this picture of my prayers. Help me to understand the seriousness and necessity of them. Amen.


MORE: "Why cannot an omnipotent God, knowing our needs, supply them without waiting for our prayers? He could, of course, but that is not His plan for His children on earth. Instead, He has dared to arrange it so that He is actually dependent upon us in the sense of prayers being necessary and all-important to the carrying out of His will on earth." Catherine Marshall - The Helper, 1978.

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Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Do your 8-12-year-olds have daily devotions? Point them to Bible Drive-Thru.

Watchmen

TODAY’S SPECIAL: Isaiah 62:1-12

TO CHEW ON: "I have set watchmen on your walls, O Jerusalem;
They shall never hold their peace day and night,
You who make mention of the Lord, do not keep silent." Isaiah 62:6 NKJV

 "You who call on the Lord, give yourselves no rest" - Isaiah 62:6 NIV

A little sidebar article in my Bible called “Watchfulness and Restlessness: The True Spirit of Prayer” gives this bit of historical information and insight into Isaiah 62:1-7:

“This passage formed the essential vision for a prayer community organized in the 1700s, in a part of Germany called Moravia. Known as the Moravians, they christened their community Hernhutt (sic), meaning, “The Lord’s Watch,” establishing a 24-hour prayer vigil that lasted over 100 years! Isaiah calls such intercessors “watchmen” noting:

1) They are positioned high on the walls, prayerfully focused on activities in the city, among nations and in heaven itself (vs. 6).

2) Alert to the character and ways of God, they review His promises, which are unfolding both for Jerusalem and for the nations (“Gentiles”) as well (vv.1&2).

3)They take stock with a spirit of urgent restlessness, refusing to keep silent before God (vv. 6b-7)" - David Bryant in “Kingdom Dynamics” – New Spirit-Filled Life Bible, p. 947.

How does this description of watchman-like prayer hit you? Does it make you want to pray more fervently, about more things? That’s the effect it has on me.

Watchmen in Bible times didn’t fight the battles. They mainly reported what they saw to the people with the authority, power and military resources to do something about it.

Are you seeing problems in your home, your neighborhood, your workplace, your city, your nation, the world? Don’t default to man-made and manipulative first lines of attack. Instead of doing things like grumbling, phoning a talk show, or starting a petition, make your first reaction one of reporting what you see to God. It is only God who has the power and resources to make a real difference.

PRAYER: Dear Lord, help me to be an alert and restless watchman (watchwoman) over my little part of the world. Amen.

MORE: A Watchman's Guide to Praying God's Promises
 In a free e-book (pdf) Dick Eastman outlines a 30-day comprehensive prayer plan that is sure to enlarge your prayer borders and watchfulness. 

This guide sets out a different prayer topic each day for 30 days (like the seven mountains of influence: religion, family & marriage, education, business, government, media, arts and entertainment, along with 23 more topics including Israel, children, justice, Christian leaders, etc.). Following these requests, each day has Scriptures to pray over the request, and a list of nations that will have you interceding for each nation of the world once a month. 

Download the 227-page e-book A Watchman's Guide to Praying God's Promises HERE. 

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Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked NIV are taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Boomerang

"The Festival of Esther" - Edward Armitage

TODAY'S SPECIAL: Esther 6:14-7:10

TO CHEW ON: "So they hanged Haman on the gallows that he had prepared for Mordecai." Esther 7:10

"The best-laid schemes o' mice an' men 

Gang aft agley, 

An' lea'e us nought but grief an' pain,
 
For promis'd joy!"

That's from Robert Burns' poem "To a Mouse." Haman would certainly agree! The irony of his demise on the gallows he himself had built was not lost on the writer of Esther.

My Bible has an encouraging sidebar article highlighting God's brilliance at turning the enemy's devices back on himself:

"Scripture often affirms that the devices of our Adversary come down upon his own head (Psalm 7:16; 35:8; 37:14-15; Proverbs 26:27). The prime example of this truth is seen in the crucifixion of Jesus. Meant by Satan to undo the plan of God, the cross instead stripped the devil of all power and authority and brought about our deliverance (1 Corinthians 2:8; Colossians 2:14,15).... When great adversity is met with courageous intercession (Esther 4:16) the Lord will confound the enemy, redeem every trial, and deliver His people from bondage (see Romans 8:28)" - Christopher Hayward, "Caught in his own trap," New Spirit-Filled Life Bible, p. 640 (emphasis added).

I especially like that last bit about the part we can play in bringing down Satan's devices and schemes. Let's begin to view the gallows and traps he sets as opportunities for God to triumph and intercede along those lines.

PRAYER: Dear God, thank You that You are never surprised or caught off-guard by Satan's schemes. Please grow my faith in Your ability to turn around any bad situation, making it a force for good. Amen.

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Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved