150 yrs ago, a young Boston woman married a printer,
and they happily had 3 kids. But the Civil war ended their happiness as Mary’s husband was conscripted into the Northern Army and died at the battle of Antietam. Next, her 12-year-old son drowned, and then her only daughter died too. In her grief, Mary Ann Kidder turned to writing hymns of faith that helped millions of others. In total, she wrote 181 worship songs. This one is called... Did You Think to Pray? When you left your room this morning, Did you think to pray? In the name of Christ our Savior, did you ask for loving favor, As a shield today? When you met with great temptation, did you think to pray? By His dying love and merit, Did you claim the Holy Spirit As your guide and stay? When your heart was filled with anger, did you think to pray? Did you plead for grace, my brother, that you might forgive another Who had crossed your way? When strong trials came upon you, did you think to pray? When your heart was filled with sorrow, did the love of Christ you borrow At the gates today?
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Many times in the Bible God promises to answer our prayer. One example is Jeremiah 33:3," Call to Me and I will answer." God always answers prayer but Not always the answer we want. God is not a genie nor is he a vending machine. He is the Sovereign God. So how does God answer prayer? In four ways: YES! NO! WAIT! or GROW! Three of these most of us do not like. The Bible is full of examples of God saying 'NO' to prayer. God said no to Abraham in the destruction of Sodom and Gomorah. God said no to King David on his new born son. Even Jesus had prayers answered no. When he asked if this cup ( the cross) could be lifted from him. In the next days we will examine "WHEN GOD SAYS NO!"
One of Jesus amazing things He did was pray in the Garden. Jesus prayed a lot. He prayed before He selected His disciples. He prayed before the tomb of Lazarus. He often went aside and prayed by Himself. Jesus prayed. So if the Son of God needed to pray shouldn't we be praying? And yet we find very little praying as individuals or churches.
Doubt is often hostile towards faith, but sometimes it is also a normal part of faith. The some of the greatest people in the Bible had moments of doubt. I remember how Abraham laughed at God when he heard that his wife was going to have a child at 90 years of age. Or how John the Baptist asked Jesus if He was really the Messiah. Remember this: Always take your doubts to Jesus. Talk to Him about questions you have. He can handle it.
" Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see." ( Hebrews 11:1) Some of you grew up where you were taught if you sin and if it’s a really big sin, you have to say a certain number of prayers. That’s not in the Bible. Prayer is not punishment for your sins. Jesus specifically told us NOT to repeat the same thing over & over. Matt 6:7 says,” When you pray DO NOT use meaningless repetition thinking you will be heard for your many words.” What I want to do is to demolish misconceptions with the truth. We are going to look at the basics, the foundation of prayer. You’re going to see that prayer is not as a duty but a delight, Not a burden but a blessing . |
What we Learned on Sunday? Insights, ideas and InspirationWritten by Pastor Chris Hudson Archives
May 2024
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