24 Things To Pray

Consider the evening before the cross...

-Peter with his vehement declaration that even though everyone else would desert Jesus, he never would.

-Jesus telling Peter, "oh, but you will." (BHG translation). Also warning Peter that Satan desired to have Peter to sift like wheat. But, Jesus had prayed for Peter.

-The evening progresses and the scene changes to the garden of Gethsemane. Jesus leaves the majority of the disciples and asks them to watch with Him while He prays. He takes Peter, John and James further into the garden and instructs them to stay and watch.

-Jesus prays earnestly for an hour-to the point of sweating great drops of blood. He returns to the three and finds them sleeping. He says to Peter, (Matthew 26:40)

"What, could you not watch with me an hour? Watch and pray that you enter not into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak."

Jesus, as God, knew what He would be facing in the next hours. His answer was to pray.

Peter, as a fallible man, denied what Jesus told him he was going to do. He slept.

Would praying instead of sleeping have better prepared Peter for the temptations he was going to face?

If I really understood the nature of things, would I pray? Would I pray more? Would I pray earnestly?

Christians are in a war. Not against people-flesh and blood. Against principalities. Against powers. Against the rulers of the darkness of this world. Against spirit wickedness in high places.

That is the true nature of things.

We forget this. We don't pray enough. We don't pray earnestly. Often, we don't even pray. We are all but sleeping-spiritually and figuratively, if not physically (during our prayer times).

In our self confidence, we are sure we are doing just fine, thanks. We are successful. We are victorious. We have got this.

Our spirit is willing. Yet, we are still flesh and blood and flawed.

We need to pray.

Here is a list of 24 things from the Bible that we should pray:

deliverance (Psalm 116:4)

success and salvation (Psalm 118:25)

peace of Jerusalem (Psalm 122:6)

those who persecute you (Matthew 5:44)

God's will to be done on earth, as it is in heaven (Matthew 6:10)

God's kingdom to come (Matthew 6:10)

daily bread (Matthew 6:11)

forgiveness (Matthew 6:12)

to not be led into temptation, but to be delivered from evil (also translated the evil one) (Matthew 6:13)

laborers for God's harvest (Matthew 9:38)

intent of our heart be forgiven (Acts 8:22)

not do wrong, but be honest (2 Corinthians 13:7)

restoration (2 Corinthians 13:9)

to be filled with the knowledge of God's will in all wisdom & spiritual understanding (Colossians 1:9)

walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing (Colossians 1:10)

be fruitful in every good work (Colossians 1:10)

increase in the knowledge of God (Colossians 1:10)

strengthen with all might unto all patience and long-suffering with joyfulness (Colossians 1:11)

utterance and open mouths to boldly share the mystery of the gospel (Ephesians 6:18-19)

Word of God may have free course and be glorified (2 Thessalonians 3:1)

deliverance from wicked men (2 Thessalonians 3:2)

sharing of our faith would become effective (Philemon 1:6)

clear conscience in all things (Hebrews 13:18)

go well with us and be in good health (3 John 1:2)

The effectual, fervent prayer of a righteous man (woman) avails much. (James 5:16)

I don't know if any of you needed to read these words. I know I did. I'm too often like Peter-confident in myself. I need to be more like my Master and Savior, Jesus Christ-who stole off very regularly to pray all night. Who prayed before the most important event in the world. His death on the cross to pay the price of my sins.

Watch and pray that ye enter not into temptation...Who do you need to be praying for?

Escape Clause

I am in a rest, recovery and rebuilding phase of my running and training. We trained hard all summer, had a race packed September in which we totally expended oursleves-several times. Now we are in recovery and rebuilding mode.

Which means that I have way dialed back on my mileage. And that I occasionally run with my boys.

Our next race is the Dallas Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving Day. Mr. Hippie and I will be running the 8 mile race. Our boys will be running the 5k with my sister.

While I am in rest mode, the boys are in training mode. I get the privilege of looking like the horrible mother who is pushing her kids too hard. Because they are running at 7:15 in the morning. And they are wasting some of their running energy by (literally) crying that this is too hard.

Except, I know that it really isn’t. It is hard, but I know they can run the distances I make them run. Because they have run them before.

Running is rarely easy, and it is rarely impossible. It is hard, but possible.

We run progressively harder, longer and farther as their endurance increases. We raise the bar and challenge ourselves.

My job as their mother/coach is to help them prepare for their races. My job is to gauge their skill and endurance levels and to evaluate where they can do better and run further, faster.

I have shared the encouragement that I receive from 1 Corinthians 10:13...(link to that post)

I love all of it, but this phrase is such an encouragement to me...

He will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. 

Unlike me, who may on occasion, wrongly gauge the running, endurance and skill levels of my boys, God always perfectly gauges my endurance level in resisting temptation.

He will not let me be tempted beyond what I can bear. He will never put a temptation before me that the only choice is to sin because I can’t resist. It may not be easy to resist, but it is certainly possible.

Also, the darkest and coldest part of the morning is right before dawn. So it is with temptations, tests and trials. They are the hardest and worst right before they are done. Satan is fighting his hardest. The cumulative effect is weighing down on you, and you can't take.any.more. 

It is right then that God continues to gives us grace and help to stand up under temptation or...

God shows His grace and faithfulness in the other way. He provides a way out. If I am faltering and stumbling, He has a way of escape right there for me to take.

Always, always.