“So he built an altar there and called upon the name of the Lord.” Genesis 26:25
God’s favor was on Isaac, not because he deserved it, but because he needed it. A brief study of Isaac’s life reveals a man of weak character plagued by the fear of man.
Fear surges when I am intimidated by the immediate. Over the years, I have experienced Intimidation from a few schoolyard bullies and more than one crisis of faith. Prayer keeps me in touch with The One standing beside me when I am faced with fear. The Father still gives His children courage to overcome their fear. Through prayer, they can be overwhelmed by His Presence.
Isaac had an aversion to conflict. He tried to avoid a quarrel even when his water wells were filled with sand. In a desert land this was a life-threatening attack. Still, he chose to walk away from a fight rather than protect his rights. He was the son of Abraham, but his fear was a far cry from the warrior spirit of his father.
The blessing God poured out on Isaac was not a result of Isaac’s ability. His blessing came as a direct result of his availability to God. When a famine hit the land, Isaac was tempted to move to Egypt to find relief. God spoke these words, and Isaac obeyed them.
“Do not go down to Egypt; stay in the land of which I shall tell you. Sojourn in this land and I will be with you and bless you.” Genesis 25:3
Isaac obeyed and stayed. His obedience was met by a series of humiliating quarrels with the occupants of the land over water rights. He became so intimidated by the conflict that he fell into the same lapse of judgment his father had made, passing his wife off as his sister to avoid making the locals envious. Fear of man does not build strong character. It reveals weak character.
“Now Isaac sowed in that land and reaped in the same year a hundredfold. And the Lord blessed him and the man became rich, and continued to grow richer until he became very wealthy…so that the Philistines envied him…Then Abimelech said to Isaac, ‘Go away from us, for you are too powerful for us.’ And Isaac departed…” Genesis 26:12-17
Wealth didn’t solve all of Isaac’s problems. It just complicated them. God’s blessing brought more conflict with local herdsmen over his water wells. Eventually Isaac found peace.
“He moved away from there and dug another well, and they did not quarrel over it; so he named it Rehoboth, for he said, ‘At last the Lord has made room for us and we will be fruitful in the land.’ “ Genesis 26:22
After this victory in the valley, Isaac sought higher ground. He “went up from there to Beersheba. The Lord appeared to him the same night and said, ‘I am the God of your father Abraham; do not fear, for I am with you. I will bless you and multiply your descendants.’” Genesis 26:24
Isaac built The Altar at the place where he heard from God. When it was finished he called upon the name of The Lord. This pattern of prayer builds character by removing fear. The Lord spoke to Isaac, filling the empty cavity of his soul. Isaac feared man more than he feared God. God offered him His Presence.
The fear of man is no match for The Presence of God. God’s words to Isaac are the greatest gift The Father can give to His children. “Do not fear, for I am with you.” Prayer makes them come alive, taking them out of the past tense and placing them in the face of the intimidation of the immediate.
NOTE TO SELF: Believing prayer is the tool you must use to dig wells to refresh your soul during the faith draining battles of your life. Prayer will also lead you to The Altar after the victories. Pray when you are in the heat of a battle, and you will thirst more for companionship with God than you crave a victory. Praying after a victory will keep you from taking pride in overcoming an enemy. It will lead you to being overwhelmed by God’s favor, and the provision of His Presence. Prayer begins as an expression of your need. It shouldn’t end without an expression of your gratitude. Let your life be marked by both. TALK LESS! PRAY MORE!
The Inquiry
“ ‘If it is so, why then am I this way?’ So she went to inquire of the Lord. The Lord said to her ‘ Two nations are in your womb; and two peoples will be separated from your body; and one people shall be the stronger than the others; and the older will serve the younger.’ “ Genesis 25:22-23
“It is a sin to ask God, ‘Why?’” I have heard this statement for years, but this passage of Scripture challenges the validity of it. Apparently there is no sin in asking God a question. The sin must be in the spirit in which the question is framed.
When a concerned mother came to her Lord for a sense of direction regarding the health of her children, He responded with an explanation. He always does.
On both occasions when Dana was carrying our two daughters, she spent a great deal of time reading them the Scriptures and singing songs of praise to them. Long before they were born she was leading them to inquire of The Lord for their sense of direction.
When our first-born came into the world, a dear friend looked over my shoulder at our precious newborn daughter and said, “She is a little blank slate and you can write on her anything that you want.” I almost passed out at the very sound of such a profound statement.
Little ones carried by Rebekah had a God-designed, and God-given plan for their lives, long before they came into the world. She was a wise mother indeed to seek the counsel of The Lord. It is always wise to pray. Prayer puts you on the same page with what God had written on the hearts of your children.
In The School of Prayer, it never hurts to ask. You aren’t learning if you are talking, but you begin to learn if you start asking the right questions. Humbly bringing an inquiry to The Father in prayer is not a sign of a rebellious child. It reveals a teachable spirit.
Rebekah brought her inquiry to the only source for the right answer. Talking about her question with other people would have only increased her anxiety over the answer. Praying about it released her fear into God’s hands. It opened her hands to receive His answer. Prayer always does.
One of Rebekah’s descendants, King David, followed a similar pattern. His life was marked by, “And David inquired of The Lord.” It is mentioned over and over again in 1 & 2 Samuel. When David inquired of The Lord, he received a clear sense of direction, and the courage to complete the task at hand.
From the killing of a bear, to the slaying of Goliath, to the conquest of his enemies on the battlefield, David received power for the hour. The danger emerged in his life when David allowed a time lapse between the responsibilities he bore and his humility before God. When David stopped inquiring of God, he started straying from God. Can anyone say, Bathsheba?
NOTE TO SELF: The lesson you are to learn from Rebekah, an expectant mother, and David, a prideful King, is this. NEVER STOP INQUIRING OF THE LORD. When you don’t know the answer to your question, inquire of God. When you think you know all the answers, inquire of God. When you are prayerless, you are clueless. Get a clue. TALK LESS! PRAY MORE!
The Preparation
“Isaac prayed to the Lord on behalf of his wife, because she was barren; and the Lord answered him and Rebekah his wife conceived.” Genesis 25:21
Isaac’s prayer on behalf of his wife, Rebekah is a powerful example of what can happen when a pressing need meets believing prayer. Though being a husband of a barren wife was a slight against his manhood, there was more at stake than Isaac’s reputation.
The offspring of Isaac and Rebekah would continue the bloodline of God’s redemptive plan for mankind. Isaac was not praying for bragging rights. He was interceding for his wife, but he was also trusting God to write the next chapter of the story of redemption through her.
God answers prayer. He always does. Sometimes God says, “Yes.” At other times He says, “No.” More often than not God says, “Wait.” In the case of Isaac and Rebekah God said, “Yes, but wait a while.” Nine months after Rebekah conceived, she bore her husband a set of twins.
Though not always within the same nine-month time frame, answered prayer is delivered from God’s heart to your hands. Learning to wait on God is one of the vital signs of maturity. If you embrace the waiting you will receive peace of God in your heart before they hold the answer from God in your hands. Peace is The Preparation God gives to you when you put your trust in Him through believing prayer.
“Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice! Let your gentle spirit be known to all men. The Lord is near. Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4:4-7
One of the greatest mysteries of life is the creation of a child from the union of a husband and wife. Science has done a great deal to enlighten us to the details. It has not proven capable of understanding why some women are unable to conceive when under the all-seeing eye of the microscope, all systems are go.
Many couples have come to the end of their own resources and turned to adoption as the only means available to them to build a family. I am no longer surprised when I hear this story recounted to me. Some time between the moment the adoption papers were filed, and the child is placed in their arms, a couple announces with great delight and immense surprise, “We’re pregnant.” What’s that all about?
Releasing a pressing need in the hands of a prayer-answering God is a healthy way to live. It is the most effective way to find relief from the stress and fatigue of carrying a burden on your own back or taking matters into your own hands. PRAY!
In the case of Rebekah, I can’t help but wonder if hearing her husband pray for her was the one thing that had been missing in the process of producing an heir. When she heard her husband intercede for her, and not criticize her, perhaps her heart was turned towards her husband.
There is nothing in the world like prayer, to create the one flesh relationship between a husband and a wife. Prayer is The Preparation they need to be the partners and parents God intends for them to be. When Isaac prayed, it is no wonder God heard him. It is little wonder Rebekah did too.
The greater miracle may be that a husband prayed for his wife, not that God opened her womb to bear a child. They both are miracles of biblical proportion. Prayer was The Preparation for the blessing Rebekah would receive. Isaac needed to know his heir came from God, not himself. Rebekah needed to know nothing was impossible with God. Her pressing need created a praying husband and a set of twins. Her prayer life was about to go to the next level. But I digress.
NOTE TO SELF: When you pray with and over your wife, you invest more in her than the breath in your lungs. Prayer engages the heart of The Father, and the power of The Spirit, in the name of The Son. Interceding for your wife to receive a blessing from God places great value on her, and magnifies her in His Presence. The former honors her, and the latter pleases God. TALK LESS! PRAY MORE!
The Servant
“He said, ‘O, Lord, the God of my master Abraham, please grant me success today, and show lovingkindness to my master Abraham.’ “ Genesis 24:12
Abraham entrusted The Servant with a daunting task, the selection of a bride for his son Isaac. It would involve a perilous journey back to Abraham’s homeland, and the persuasion of a stranger to follow him back home to become the bride of man she had never seen. Little wonder that he prayed…
“Please grant me success today.”
This simple statement was not a request for more treasure. It was a prayer for God’s timing. He was asking God to allow him to be a part of a Divine appointment. He didn’t want to miss it or to be late for it. The word success carries the meaning of a meeting or a junction. The Servant was praying for God’s timing to be perfect, so that he would be at the right place to meet the right young lady, at the right time.
In God’s view of success, timing is everything. Missing God’s best is always a matter of being out of touch with God’s timing for your life. Getting ahead of God separates you from intimacy with God, as much as running away from God. Both reveal a spirit of independence. The Servant declared his dependency on God for success. NOW is the right time to get in step with God, and to meet with Him. Don’t wait too long.
The Servant, having observed his master’s response to life, followed Abraham’s lead and expressed his own dependency upon God. When facing this overwhelming task, The Servant turned to God in prayer. Abraham had taught him well.
“Behold, I am standing by the spring…” Genesis 24:13
The Servant was on high alert for God’s answer to his prayer. His prayer had been one of child-like simplicity and humble expectation. His expectancy in prayer was reflected by his posture. He was standing up, looking over the horizon expecting the answer to come.
The woman The Servant had in mind for Isaac was not filled with a spirit of entitlement. He set a very high standard. The potential bride would not be lounging in her tent surrounded by servants meeting her needs. She would not be focused on having her needs met, but she would be a channel of blessing to someone she had never met.
The Servant asked God to lead him to a woman with ministry eyes, and a heart of hospitality. Her response to his need would reveal all about her character The Servant needed to know. It always does.
“’Drink , and I will water your camels also.’” Genesis 24:14b
Ten camels hauling a great deal of merchandise in an arid climate require an enormous amount of water. Reports vary, but thirsty camels are able to drink between 25-50 U.S. gallons of water at one time. But I digress.
The wife The Servant had in mind for his master’s son would not be a lazy woman. She would have to draw, haul and pour 250-500 gallons of water from a spring and into a trough until ten camels had their thirst quenched. The Servant prayed for a young woman with a servant’s heart, and a strong back.
“’…May she be the one whom You have appointed for Your servant Isaac; and by this I will know that You have shown lovingkindness to my master.’ “ Genesis 24:14c
Lovingkindess is not to be confused with benign benevolence. It reveals the powerful, passionate nature of the character of God. His lovingkindness is not provided because people deserve it, but because they need it, and they ask for it.
Answered prayers are intimate expressions of God’s lovingkindness. To those humble enough to ask, patient enough to wait, and expectant enough to watch, He reveals and releases His mercy to them.
NOTE TO SELF: You will never be more successful than your prayer life. God answers prayer. When you are prayerless, you are clueless. Who you are before God in private prayer is who you really are, no more no less. When you pray, you are calling upon God for the one thing you need most, His mercy. You don’t deserve it, but ask for it. You need it. Wait for it. Receive it. TALK LESS! PRAY MORE!
The Test
“Now it came about after these things, that God tested Abraham, and said to him, ‘Abraham!’ And he said, ‘Here I am.’” Gen. 22:1
My cell phone provider released an advertising campaign that promoted their services with a persistent and effective question. It featured a man repeatedly asking into his phone, “Can you hear me now?” It resonated with consumers who had experienced being out of the range of a communication tower. Those who have had phone service interrupted while driving through a mountain range or a deep valley have repeated the same question over and over again.
God’s plan for prayer is all about communication with His children. He is not in need of communicating with them, in the sense that He is uninformed about them. He already knows what they need. His children need to know, they need Him.
“Your Father knows what you need before you ask Him.” Mt. 6:8
Prayer begins with God’s call to His children, not their cry to Him. Old Testament Scripture provides a powerful picture of God constantly calling out to His children, and His children turning a deaf ear to His voice. The New Testament reveals how God has placed His Spirit within the hearts of His children to remind them whose they are, and to cry out to Him on their behalf even when words fail them.
Prayer begins in the heart of God before the faintest cry comes out of the mouths of His children. The act of prayer is proof positive that The Father is always calling to His children. They are not always listening. When God called Abraham, he responded, “Here I am.” His answer reveals the essence of prayer. God calls His children. His children respond to Him.
Recently, I heard Gov. Bobby Jindal of Louisiana share how he became a Christian. His simple statement revealed the call of God, and man’s cry for redemption.
“I didn’t’ find God. He found me.” Gov. Bobby Jindal
It is in prayer that God reveals His will. God desires His will to be done. More to the point, He desires for His children to desire to do His will. Jesus didn’t debate or fight with The Father. He embraced God’s will. He didn’t resist it.
“Not My will, but Yours be done." ~Jesus, Lk. 22:43
Prayer warriors engage in spiritual warfare, but don’t fight with God. They show up to obey His will, not their own. Like solders on call to the voice of their commander, they make the only proper response to a call from God. They respond with total availability, and immediate obedience. Abraham responded to God’s call with an immediate, “Here I am.” He didn’t’ say, “Can I put you on hold?
When I entered the ministry almost 50 years ago, I remember hearing preachers remind their people to “Keep short accounts with God.” They urged them to allow no distance, no gap, no delay between hearing from God, and obeying Him.
When there is a lapse or a gap in obedience, it is not to be ignored. It is to be confessed. This truth never gets old. Disobedience never ages well. Pray and obey.
When Abraham showed up at the sound of God’s voice, he did not know what God had in mind for him. He only knew that he was on God’s mind, and he was in God’s hands. Nothing else mattered to him. Nothing else should ever matter to us.
What was the test? It was not a True / False question. It was multiple choice. Abraham had to choose between trusting God and resisting God. True belief is always a matter of absolute obedience. God tested Abraham. Abraham trusted God.
“Take now your son, your only son, whom you love, Isaac, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering.” V. 2
“Your only son” reveals God’s view of man-made effort. He doesn’t recognize it. Abraham had two sons. One was the son he had made, Ishmael. The other was the son God had given him, Isaac. There is a huge difference between a good idea, and God’s idea. Man’s plan is no substitute for God’s will.
Abraham faced a soul-wrenching dilemma. He had to trust God to protect the son God had given him, or fight God to protect the promise God had made to him. Abraham chose to obey God, by trusting Him. His obedience turned out for the best, but it looked like it was the worst thing he could do. It often does.
NOTE TO SELF: Obedience often looks like the worst thing you can do. Look at it through the eyes of faith, not the eyes of fear. Pray and obey. There is no other way. TALK LESS! PRAY MORE!
The Intercessor
“Abraham prayed to God, and God healed Abimelech.” Genesis 20:17
Abraham, a patriarch, prophet and prayer warrior was not immune from the fear of man. This form of fear was a particular weakness of his life. Fear of God is the only cure for it. Praying for a man he had wronged, restored health to Abimelech, but it strengthened faith in Abraham.
Courage is not the absence of fear. It is the capacity to stand in the presence of fear and overcome it. Prayer invites The Presence of God to into any fearful crisis or confrontation. Abraham was a man of God who was in need of prayer. When he prayed, he stood firm. When he did not pray, he strayed.
Fear of man was not a sudden fright that came upon Abraham like a bump in the night. This kind of fear occupied his thoughts day and night. He was always planning and scheming to find a painless path through life to avoid any messy confrontations.
When it came to his “sister” Sarah, Abraham had convinced himself that a half-truth was not a lie. Full of the fear of man, Abraham tried to avoid a bump in the road, by kicking his wife off the bus. Like a moth to a flame, Abraham’s prayerless fear invited The Lord to step in to put the fear of God in him.
Passing his wife off as his sister, and handing her over to become Abimelech’s bride invited God’s intervention. Sin always does. Abraham’s fear blinded him to his sinful behavior, but sin is never hidden from God’s eyes. The innocent Abimelech appealed to God for mercy. He received it.
“Lord, will you slay a nation, even though blameless?...In the integrity of my heart and the innocence of my hands I have done this.” Genesis 20:4-5
Abraham’s private, personal fear became a public scandal. All sin eventually does. God required Abimelech to restore Sarah back to her husband, and He called Abraham to intercede for the healing of Abimelech’s family.Private sin always leads to public humiliation, and some form of restitution. Sin has a price.
“Now therefore, restore the man’s wife, for he is a prophet, and he will pray for you and you will live.” Genesis 20:7
By calling Abraham to intercede for a man he had wronged, God called Abraham back to Himself. Abraham’s fear of God increased when was standing in The Presence of God. When he stood face to face with an intimidating man, Abraham’s thoughts blinded him to Almighty God standing with him. This only happens EVERY TIME.
“I thought, surely there is no fear of God in this place, and they will kill me because of my wife. Besides, she actually is my sister, but not the daughter of my mother, and she became my wife…when God caused me to wander from my father’s house, that I said to her, ‘This is the kindness which you will show to me…say of me, ‘He is my brother.” Genesis 20:11-13
Fear of man intimidated a God-ordained prophet like Abraham into a major lapse of discernment. Two words were at the heart of Abraham’s problem. “I thought.” Abraham’s thoughts had a way of racing through his mind and filling his heart with fear. Can I get a witness?
Prayerless thoughts always do this. Thinking about man is a poor substitute for praying to God. One leads to intimidation by man. The other leads to intimacy with God.
Another glimpse into Abraham’s fear is found in his powers of rationalization. Even though he was forced to admit he was wrong publicly, Abraham couldn’t resist defending himself on a technicality. In making a fine point. Abraham missed the point. Rationalization isn’t repentance. It is flirting with a flame.
“Besides, she actually is my sister…” v. 12
It is this kind of stinking thinking that got Abraham in trouble in the first place. He may have been sorry for getting caught, but he hadn’t repented of what he had done. Abraham remained a work in progress. So are we all.
NOTE TO SELF: Your faith will be strengthened by praying your way through crises and confrontations, real or imagined. Your fear increases by thinking your way through them. Stop thinking and start praying. Thinking focuses on what man can do to you. Praying magnifies God who is with you. Prayer magnifies your faith, and shrinks your fear. Place your fear in God’s hands. He transforms it into faith. TALK LESS! PRAY MORE!
“A man who is intimate with God is not intimidated by man.” Leonard Ravenhill
The Equation
“So Abraham said to God, ‘May Ishmael live under your special blessing!’” Genesis 17:18
Changing Abram’s name to Abraham did not change his heart, or solve the math problem he faced. When God promised to provide Abraham a son and an heir borne by his wife Sarah, “he laughed to himself in disbelief.” V. 17
God’s promise to Abraham was impossible to believe. It did not ignite Abraham’s faith. It revealed his disbelief. Abraham bowed his body to the ground, showing an outward posture of submission, but his heart was in rebellion to God.
Abraham was trying to figure out a monumental math problem. He added up all the numbers, but lost his confidence in God’s capacity to do the math.
“’How could I become a father at the age of 100?’ he thought. ‘And how can Sarah have a baby when she is ninety years old?’” V. 17b
Facing the monumental, Abraham was in need of a miracle. God gave him a math lesson. Faith always adds God to The Equation. God’s Presence is always greater than the sum of the parts. What did Abraham do? He prayed.
Abraham did not pray with great faith, but he brought God what little bit of faith he had. Abraham was still depending on God to use what he had already brought to the table. He asked God to make an exception of his son Ishmael, and give him a special blessing. God had other plans.
Abraham’s form of faith was trapped in his past. God intended to do something new. Hagar cried for her child, in the wilderness, and was heard by God. Abraham’s prayer for Ishmael reached God’s ears too. Both parents prayed for their child. God heard and answered their prayers. He still does. Still, The Father had more in mind.
Believing prayer opens the door of the heart of a child of God to receive His plan for their lives. The child may begin praying with their own plan in mind, but believing prayer doesn’t end until The Father’s will is in their heart. Prayer adds God to The Equation. When adding up His promises, don’t forget to carry The One.
Abraham’s prayer was not based on his confidence in God’s resources. It was generated by an assessment of his assets. He already had a son. He prayed God would bless the one he had.
When Abraham heard the promise of God, he had a good idea. It just wasn’t God’s idea. Abraham asked God to bless the son he had. He held no expectation of God giving him another son. He considered the idea laughable when God said Sarah would be the instrument of His grace.
Abraham’s prayer for Ishmael was answered. If The Father waited for pure motives, and clear insight from His children before He answered their prayers, there would a lot less answered prayer. The Father takes the tiniest seed of faith His children bring to Him, and He makes something great out of it.
“As for Ishmael, I will bless him also, just as you have asked.” V. 20
The Father expects His children to be overwhelmed by the math of His promises. When they can’t figure out the problem, they would be wise to add Him to The Equation. He is always greater than the sum of the parts, and He makes the most out of the tiniest seed of faith.
God’s grace causes man’s resources to shrivel in comparison to His generosity. Too often prayer is based upon God’s children figuring out what they can do by themselves, and giving God the glory for it. This neither increases their faith nor honors God.Two words come to mind. STOP IT!
Abraham’s prayer for Ishmael was answered because he asked. God’s grace was poured out on Abraham even when he didn’t. This is the beauty of answered prayer. The Father longs to give more to His children than they could possibly imagine. Pray!
“’But my covenant will be confirmed with Isaac, who will be born to you and Sarah about this time next year.’ When God had finished speaking, He left Abraham.” V. 22
NOTE TO SELF: When God is silent, He is not speechless. Allow His promises to continue to speak to your heart. What He has promised to you in His Word, He will deliver to you, in His time. The air of prayer breathes new life into the promises of God. When you are in the waiting room, don’t take matters into your own hands. You may live to regret what you have done. When the deepest thoughts and concerns of your heart don’t add up, release them into The Father’s hands. Prayer adds Him to The Equation. Do the math. TALK LESS! PRAY MORE!
The Initiator
“After these things the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision, saying, ‘Do not fear, Abram, I am a shield to you; your reward shall be very great.’ Abram said, ‘O Lord God, what will you give me…” Genesis 15:1-2
The initiation of prayer is the greatest misconception about prayer. Prayer is the highest form of communication. It is initiated by God, not by man. Prayer is not just a good idea that has come to your mind. Prayer has always been God’s idea.
When the proverbial light bulb goes off in your brain, and you being to pray, you are responding to a call of God. He turned on the light because He was weary of watching you sit in the dark.
When you pray, you are not giving God information. He already knows what is on your mind. He wants you to place what is on your mind into His hands. When you draw near to God in prayer, you will discover He has been calling to you much longer than you have been listening to Him.
This passage reveals God as The Initiator. He came to Abram in a vision to calm his anxious thoughts. Abram had been worrying about the promise of God. Obsessed with the promise, Abram had missed The Presence.
God had promised to make a great nation through Abram, but without an heir to succeed him, there wasn’t much power in the promise. Abram began to do the math in his head. No matter how he figured it, the numbers just didn’t add up. One is still the loneliest number when God is left out of the equation.
The Patriarch would not be the last man to confuse God’s delay with God’s denial. Faith’s greatest battleground is the waiting room. Fear arises in the strongest of hearts when the delivery of a promise of God is delayed.
Fear screams for you to take matters into your own hands, and to fight for the survival of a promise of God. All the screaming and scheming in the world will not breathe life into a promise. Only God can do that.
Man-made creations postpone the promise of God. They are like counterfeit currency of the real thing. They lead to spiritual bankruptcy, and have long-lasting consequences.
The Risen Christ interrupted a conversation between two disciples totally overwhelmed by the events surrounding the crucifixion. Jesus took the initiative to engage them in conversation. These discouraged disciples even resented it when He did. They had not been praying to God. They had been talking to one another about the crisis. The more they talked about it the greater their crisis became. Jesus stepped in to heal their hearts with His Presence. He made sense out of it once they placed it in His hands. He still does.
“While they were talking and discussing, Jesus Himself approached and began traveling with them…And He said to them, ‘What are these words that you are exchanging with one another as you are walking?’ “ Luke 24:17
God promised Abram that He would be a shield to him, and that his reward would be great. Rather than stand confidently behind the shield of faith in God, Abram began to race ahead of God. As his mind raced to figure out how God was going to fulfill the promise, God stepped in to turn Abram’s eyes of faith back to Him.
NOTE TO SELF: Stop trying to help God out of a jam. Every time you try to help God out, you place more faith in yourself than you do in God. Prayer gives the Holy Spirit the elbowroom He needs to prepare you to receive the promise of God. Stop rushing the process. Embrace it. TALK LESS! PRAY MORE!
The Altar
There he built an altar to the Lord and called upon the Lord.” Genesis 12:8
Before Abram was renamed Abraham, he was the recipient of a call of God upon his life. He was 75 years old, when he heard God tell him to abandon everything that was familiar to him.
“Now the Lord said to Abram, ‘Go forth from your country, and from your relatives and from your father’s house, to the land which I will show you; and I will make you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great; and so you shall be a blessing; and I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse. And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed.” Genesis 12:1-3
A call from God remains unanswered until it is obeyed. Faith feeds on obedience. Fear breathes new life into disobedience. The sacrifice of abandoning a familiar life often appears greater than the blessing of the faith life. Appearances can be deceiving. A great leap of faith is simply the first step of obedience. Take it.
Five years ago, my wife, Dana, and I ventured into an unknown land. After discussing a step of faith for a year we finally obeyed God’s call to launch our prayer ministry. We call it TALK LESS! PRAY MORE!
Dana was the first to hear from God concerning this new adventure of faith. She was in the middle of a fight with cancer, and I was in the middle of a building program. She called her battle with cancer, her “Great Adventure.” I called the construction project everything but a child of God. You can easily see why she heard God’s call before I did. But I digress.
One night I was sitting at the kitchen table at my Dad’s home. He asked me, “What has God said to you about your prayer ministry?” I answered, “I believe He wants me to do it.” He said, “Have your resigned your church?” I said, “No.” He said, “When God speaks, you may want to think about being obedient.” Feeling like a 16 year old who had broken curfew, I could only say, “You’re right.” Long story short, I resigned my pastorate and five years later we are still on a journey of faith to share with people the simple message of TALK LESS! PRAY MORE!
Abram’s first step of obedience was his greatest step of faith. Immediate obedience is the only way to respond to a call of God. Anything less is delayed obedience, and that is simply a clever synonym for disobedience. Don’t play word games with God. Pray and obey. There is no other way. Stop searching for it.
“So Abram went forth as the Lord had spoken to him…thus they came to the land of Canaan….The Lord appeared to Abram and said, ‘To your descendants I will give this land.’ So he built an altar to the Lord who had appeared to him.” V. 4-7
Continuous revival is nothing less than continued obedience. Expecting God to increase His blessing upon you or improve His communication with you while you are living in a state of rebellion with Him is a fool’s fantasy.
Abram obeyed God the first time he heard Him speak. Then he heard from God again. This should come as no surprise. God wants to communicate with you, more than you want to communicate with Him. Obedience removes any interference.
Nothing improves your hearing like obeying God the first time you hear Him speak to you. Waiting for a fresh word from God while breathing the stale air of disobedience will never refresh your soul or improve your hearing.
Abram continued on into the land and built another altar to the Lord. When God blessed Abram with the gift of the land of Israel, Scripture records, he called upon the name of The Lord in prayer.
“There he built an altar to the Lord and called upon the name of the Lord.” V. 8
The Altar consumes a sacrifice. It doesn’t magnify it. Grateful prayer expresses overwhelming gratitude for God’s blessing. It doesn’t whine about the cost of the sacrifice. Prayer abandons everything that looks valuable to you, in order to receive everything that is of value to God. Don’t change the price tags.
NOTE TO SELF: Plan A: Your immediate obedience creates a healthy climate of communication between you and God. Abandon all hope in Plan B. Obey God the first time you hear Him speak. Daily read His Word and you will hear from Him every day. Hearing from God requires a response. Studying and discussing His Word aren’t obedience. His Word is not merely a source of information. It is for inspiration and implementation. TALK LESS! PRAY MORE!
“When God speaks, you may want to think about being obedient.” Don Miller
The Walk
“Enoch walked with God; and he was not, for God took him.” Genesis 5:24
When I was a boy I heard an old preacher explain this unique text by saying, “Enoch and God took long walks together. At the end of the day after one of their walks God said to Enoch, ‘It is closer to My house than it is to yours. Just come on home with Me.’” The older I get, his explanation of the translation of Enoch makes more and more sense to me.
Yesterday Dana and I raced across town to get to the ER after we received calls from both of my brothers. Dad had experienced another one of his TIA strokes. These mini-strokes always take a toll on Dad, and reveal once again how fragile his life can be. He turns 93 in another month, and it is getting harder and harder for him to bounce back from these frightening episodes.
After his release from the hospital, at the end of a very long day, I took a short walk with my Dad. Making it from the car to his room at the retirement center has become a marathon. His once powerful legs have been reduced to a mere shadow of their former strength and his swift stride is now a slow, soft shuffle. Dad doesn’t talk much. He saves his breath for the walk. He needs every bit of it to get home.
Dad quietly remarked at how slowly he was moving and how rubbery his legs felt. It took longer than usual, but he made it home. When he sat down on the couch, he was exhausted, but he had a peaceful expression on his face. He was at home, not in a hospital. Like the old song says, “Be it ever so humble. There is no place like home.”
Dad has walked with God for over 70 years. His walk was out-distanced by the 300 years Enoch walked with God. Still, Dad has given his all to maintain the same kind of intimate communication and consistent companionship Enoch must have had with God. So should we all.
One day my Dad will hear God call him home, and his heart will leap at the invitation. What brings sadness to my heart will bring gladness to his. The very thought of it pains me, but for my Dad, the longer he walks with God, the less he feels at home in this world. Yesterday I sensed the spirit of Enoch all over him. Home is closer than it has ever been. He hears God calling.
It is interesting to note that there are no recorded prayers of Enoch. Walking with God for over 300 years, he may have learned the secret of intimate communication with God. It is found in listening to God, not in talking to Him.
“Jesus died to make communication with The Father possible.” Billy Graham
“By faith Enoch was taken up so that he would not see death; AND HE WAS NOT FOUND BECAUSE GOD TOOK HIM UP; for he obtained the witness that before his being taken up he was pleasing to God. “ Hebrews 11:5
In The School of Prayer, learning to walk is more important than learning to talk. As in life, so it is in prayer, walking precedes talking. When you do more talking than walking you will always trip over your tongue.
This should come as no surprise. Little children learn to walk by falling, and they learn to talk by listening. When they grow weary of being carried and watching others walk, they begin the process. By stepping out, falling down, and getting up their walking improves. Though painful, it is not personal. Everyone has to go through the process to make progress.
When little children are no longer satisfied with others speaking for them, they begin to speak for themselves. They repeat what they hear, not what they read.
“Faith comes by hearing.” Romans 10:17
The process of walking and talking takes time and effort, but the process leads to progress. It is not futile. It is rewarding. Seeking God through prayer is a rewarding experience when it involves more listening than talking.
“And without faith is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is the rewarder of those who seek Him.” Hebrews 5:6
NOTE TO SELF: Start walking. Stop talking. You need all your breath to keep up with God. Don’t waste your breath trying to bring God up to speed. He doesn’t need your advice. You need His sense of direction. You aren’t learning if you are talking. Start your walk with Him, by listening to Him, not talking to Him. If you want your talk to match your walk, TALK LESS! PRAY MORE!