PRAYERS OF THE BIBLE SERIES - THE BOOK OF JAMES, #2

THE METHODOLOGY OF ANTI-TEMPTATION PRAYER

12 Blessed is the man who endures temptation; for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him. 13 Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am tempted by God”; for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone. 14 But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. 15 Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death. (James 1:12-15)

The second important prayer of the Book of James follows immediately after the directive to pray for Wisdom. If any more evidence is needed of James’ concern for the sanctification of the believer, look no further than his Prayer Directives. First, the Lord’s half-brother exhorts us to “ask our generous God” if we are in need of Wisdom.  This need will cover 100% of all Christians. However, immediately following that, James moves from the foundation of Wisdom to the Perseverance of the Saints.

His teaching on patiently enduring “testing and temptation”  illumines us on the sources of both while driving us to our knees. Indirectly, James shows us God’s plan for us to be able to successfully maneuver through these treacherous times in the Christian life. We can grasp this truth easily.  It is based on the knowledge that everything James, the head of the Christian church in ground zero of Judeo-Christianity – Jerusalem- taught, pointed us to a closer relationship with God. He accomplished that in what the English translators put as five chapters of the Book of James.

There is no doubt that testing is from the Lord and temptation from the devil. Please do not confuse both by thinking they have the same sources, when Biblical Truth says otherwise. If it were not for the testing and discipline of the Lord, none of His Elect – true Christians – would grow in maturity and sanctification to be more like Christ.  How we respond to this testing leads to either more and intense radical testing of our faith and commitment to Christ, or a higher level of knowledge of the Holy. Either scenario depends, in full measure, on our positional relationship to prayer.

Testing leads to perseverance which leads to spiritual maturity and the reward of the Christian life well lived. Temptation had better lead us to prayer or we will fall, as too many Godly people have, in human history. Temptation should lead us to pray Scripture immediately while RUNNING AWAY from it.

Jesus Himself gave the order in Matthew 26:41 ~~“Keep watch and pray, so that you will not give in to temptation. For the spirit is willing, but the body is weak!"

Sometimes we cannot see the tempter or the temptress and are blindsided. As far as humanly possible, flee and depart from it, her or him – IMMEDIATELY. Reject it as from the devil and pray the situation at once into the Hands of the Lord, knowing that we are mortal flesh under demonic attack. The Lord will honor that and deliver from all evil.

Knowing Scripture is a powerful weapon against temptation as Jesus Himself demonstrated three times when the devil tempted the hungry and thirsty Messiah in the desert. Three statements dismissed the evil one as Jesus responded “IT IS WRITTEN” to every single temptation. The great Martin Luther wrote in “A Mighty Fortress is Our God” that “one little word shall fell him (the devil”). That Word is the Name of JESUS. Sometimes our prayers are simply the confident recitation of God’s Word back at the tempting situation or person and the command to “be gone, in the Name of Jesus”. When possible, speak it out loud! That will not only preach, but will pray!

Psalm 119:11 says “Thy Word have I hidden in my heart that I may not sin against thee”.  A follower of Christ who is read up, prayed up and stayed up on Jehovah is absolutely less likely to fall if the Word of God richly dwells and abides in such a one! 2 Peter 2:9 (the Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptations and to reserve the unjust under punishment for the day of judgment)is therefore what we stand on as our promise and the REASON we have to pray or say the Word for victory over Temptation. It says:”

This is unorthodox in method, but it is a level of prayer which the man or woman of God has to mature into, if we wish to live in the victory which is promised the believer. What an exciting thing James has led us to, as we blow open the Word, from his inspired words, to expand our universe of how indeed, we grow deeper in relationship with our Lord!

(Graphic Source Here)

NEW!!! PRAYERS OF THE BIBLE SERIES: THE BOOK OF JOB, Prayer #1

The Bible is more than just an amazing historical record of God's redemption plan for all mankind, for all time. It is a living breathing document, occupied by the Spirit of God for the man or woman of God's instruction. It is also a book of Prayer as well as the Book of Life! 

The Bible is also full of the most amazing prayers ever prayed and prayers which should illustrate to us: both how we should pray; when we should pray and sometimes how we should not pray!

Prayer was not just for the saints mentioned in God's Word or for when there is a tragedy or a health emergency but it is the only methodology, given by God, by which we stay connected to the Creator and...to tell you the truth, it is the only way to live an authentic Christian life. To that end, I chose the very first Scriptures ever written (chronologically) - the Book of Job and to briefly look at some of the prayerful offerings of that great man.  Moses wrote the Torah, the Book of Beginnings (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy) around 1500 BC but Job was alive before the time of Abraham (2000 BC) and was closer to creation than anyone else mentioned in detailed. In fact, God Himself, through the Power of His Spirit, revealed more details in the Book of Job. The trials and thoughts of Job are of great significance to Christians today because many of us would either go through similar circumstances and still get it wrong about God. Therefore, it is worthwhile to examine the way he prayed what Scripture reveals in relation to it, knowing that Scripture explains inspired- Scripture.

So, here is Prayer #1, gleaned from The Book of Job:
"Then Job arose, and rent his mantle, and shaved his head, and fell down upon the ground, and worshipped, and said, Naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return thither: the Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord. In all this Job sinned not, nor charged God foolishly." (Job 1:20-22)

There are some really important observations here:
1. Job's ripping off his mantle shows his rank in his society at the time, which was very high and of tremendous wealth and importance. Still, he threw off his earthly rank, shaved his head and humbled himself. Since this was before the Law of the Lord, (over 500 years before it was given to Moses), Job was not violating the Torah but simply showing his inner knowledge of his Creator who gave that high position in society to begin with.  For us, the lesson is to never forget that we are who we are, and where we are because of Whose we are! It is all about God and nothing else. He owns everything, made everything and controls everything and nothing moves without Him.

2. After humbling himself, by the act described in point #1, Job went face down before the Lord and worshiped Him! The lesson for us is this - when we cry out to God in times of huge trouble, do not be surprised if the answer back from Abba is "Seek My Face"! He said so Himself in Psalm 27:7-8 "Hear my voice when I call, Lord; be merciful to me and answer me. My heart says of you, “Seek his face!” Your face, Lord, I will seek. In times of personal trauma and trouble - worship your way out of crisis. I have found this to be true.

3. Acknowledge Him. Job realized from when cometh both his help and his trials...and praised God for both "the Lord gave and the Lord taketh away....". Can we bless God and glorify Him in times of sickness, financial disaster and other catastrophes? This is the test!

4. Do not blaspheme God in your trials. Job never sinned in that sense. It is absolutely human to question God and ask "why me"....or "God, how could You let this happen to me (us...or such and such a person)! Who has not done that? However, please be careful even in your questioning of God as it can go over the line as Job did in the long discourses in the middle of the Book of Job. How God answered Job was amazing and a study for another time. The lesson here is question the Lord respectfully and accept His explanation, which most likely will be "wait or My Grace is sufficient for thee"!

THINK ON THESE THINGS - SATURDAY

WORD OF THE DAY - PERSEVERANCE

Put in modern language, this word comes from the LATIN (Like most English words) and means "hang in there" or to continue on; stick to it and well, persist. It implies specifically to NEVER give up.

A couple months ago, on this very blog if you searched, you will find a thorough examination of Hebrews chapter 11, which lists by name, all the major Bible heroes who persevered through trials, temptations and evil, to the end! These names range from Abraham and Moses to Rahab and more!

America was built by people who refused to give up. Charles Goodyear, the tire man, never gave up until he found way to make rubber flexible, even though he and his family were hungry and cold from poverty, back in the early part of the 19th century.

Elias Howe patented the Sewing Machine in 1846, but do you think he just invented it and it worked right away?!

Milton Hershey, one of the heroes I wrote about in my book DANGER ZONE, whose name is an American Chocolate staple, tried and failed so many times.

I could go into detail on these and more....and did on the Bible heroes, but we get the picture.

All of us - young and old - are called to never give up. 

Things are horrible for our young people as most teens and college graduates cannot find jobs - never give up.

They see no point to life and its many hardships - never give up.

They see their parents struggling in some cases, even bible believing parents, but they should - never give up.

Wives are seeing husbands laid off, through no fault of their own but - never give up.

Widows are alone and sad and feeling the emptiness of loneliness  but - never give up.

Never give up, never give up...our Jesus never, never gave up on us. If He did, we would be toast! God has spent the last 6000 years graciously trying to offer His Hand to man to pull us out of our self-made quicksand, when He could have justly given us what we deserved!

I offered you His exhortation to hang in there, this morning, no matter what you're going through. I also wish to start off by asking first of all, as our focus has been on prayer, to persist and persevere in PRAYER this weekend!  

Perseverance through Prayer is probably the most beneficial to the Christian believer because it shows we trust and depend and rely fully on God, through Christ, and Him alone! AMEN

Romans 5:3-4: Perseverance in Sufferings

More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that sufferingproduces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope,

James 1:2-3: Perseverance in Trials 
Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness


James 5:1: Perseverance with Job as the Example

Behold, we consider those blessed who remained steadfast. You have heard of the steadfastness of Job, and you have seen the purpose of the Lord, how the Lord is compassionate and merciful.

1 Timothy 4:16 Perseverance and Persistence

Keep a close watch on yourself and on the teaching. Persist in this, for by so doing you will save both yourself and your hearers.