I'm reaching back in time today to "the Prayer of Jabez." You remember don't you that this prayer was the subject of a book and that it caused a stir among the brothers and sisters about the importance of it? Some seemed to view it as a magic incantation, while others saw it as only one of the many prayers referred to in the Bible.
Here is the prayer as recorded in verse 10: "And Jabez called on the name of the God of Israel, saying, Oh that thou wouldest bless me indeed, and enlarge my coast, and that thine hand might be with me, and that thou wouldest keep me from evil, that it might not grieve me! And God granted him that which he requested." Now, I am not about to adopt that prayer as an incantation, but it is worth reflecting on, and is certainly worthy of considering that these are some things that I would want God to do in my life. Would I say that I do not want God to bless me? Would I refuse to have my responsibilities and joys increased? I certainly want the hand of God to be with me as I wind my way through this maze that we call life. I surely want God to keep me from evil and the grief that it would cause me and mine. Without fearing that I am taking this prayer out of context, I will gladly request these things for my life. I will thank Jabez for praying the prayer and thank God for putting it in His word for me to read. God will grant this prayer based on my faith in Him and not because He granted Jabez what he prayed for. I will say about this prayer what I say about the Lord's Prayer: It is not given for us to "repeat," but for us see what Jesus can do in our lives today. Like all other prayers that we pray, God will hear it and act on it according to His will. I am certainly not going to tell you that if you will recite this prayer every day you will have tremendous "luck" in your life. I would certainly not suggest that this prayer take the place the Lordl's model prayer, which is, after all, how Jesus taught us to pray. I will, however, suggest that the parts of this prayer are things that we all need in our lives. Besides that, we all need to turn to the Bible as our prayer guide from time to time, for the Bible contains the wisdom of God, and of the ages. Read and reflect on this prayer, because the Holy Spirit put it into the Bible; therefore, it has relevance for your life today. Bro. Joe
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I read today of the fall of the Northern Kingdom of Judah. They had kings that tried to right the ship of state but their efforts were not enough and the kingdom fell. I can go back to one thing that is written over and over again, even about good kings that explains the ultimate downfall: "The high places were not taken away." For example, in 2 Kings 12:2-3: "And Jehoash did that which was right in the sight of the Lord all of his days wherein Jehoida the priest instructed him. But the high places were not taken away: the people still sacrificed and burnt incense in the high places." The "high places" were where real idolatry took place. In the hearts of many of the Jewish people the "high places" replaced the temple; therefore, they continued to stand and were not taken away. This can be said about things in our lives as well. We do well from day to day, but there is that "high place" that has become so much a part of our lives that we hardly know it's there, and if we know it's there we don't see it as being so bad. I will not define any "high places," because you know what yours are. Quite often we do not have victory in our lives because of some "high place." The same can be said for our corporate fellowship, the church. We do well but there is that "high place" that somebody's grandaddy put in the church, so we leave it there. What we need to do in both cases is to pinpoint the "high place" and remove it. Let's do it.
Bro. Joe Okay, I’ll confess that when I left Dr. Bennett’s office Thursday I felt “snake bit.” I also felt that if I “didn’t have bad luck, I’d have no luck atall.” (A quote from Hee Haw.) However, after getting home and praying and meditating on the situation, I am now in a “git’er done” mode. (A quote from “Cable Guy.”) After all, “it is what it is.” From the people I am quoting, you can see that I have become deeply philosophical over the last few days. All kidding aside, you can imagine that a lot of things have run through my mind since I discovered that I had a second cancer. Giving no great credit to whatever spirituality I have, and all credit to a loving God, I have accepted that this is the reality that I have to deal with, so I will deal with it. Now, would I have preferred to have had a better report from the doctor? The answer is a “no-brainer.” (I know, I know, another cliché.) Of course I would have preferred to hear him say that I was a “perfect specimen of health.” Dr. Bennett would prefer to have said the same thing. He hated to tell me that I had another cancer and informed me that he did. Even a great, genteel guy like Dr. John Bennett cannot give good news when the news is not good. (Mary and I have known Dr. Bennett since he was a little boy. I was his grandmother’s pastor in the 70’s. I refuse to call him“John,” since he will be running a long tube through my colon, then cutting off part of my colon. I prefer to think of him as Dr. Bennett instead of the four-year-old boy running around his grandmother’s den.) Dr. Bennett thinks that he can get all of it with surgery, but he doesn’t know that for sure. We will have to deal with what we will have deal with when the surgery is done and we know the outcome. I want to hear him say that he got it all (duh). I feel, however, that if I lived through the past seven or eight months with lymphoma and chemo treatments, I can live through whatever comes of the surgery, including further chemo treatments. I am praying, and want you to pray, that this will not be the case and that I can leave the hospital with a “clean bill of health.” (Is that another cliché or is it only a quaint saying?)
Believe me, prayer partners, January 17, 18 and 19 will be trying days. I will go from Nulytely (17th) to colonoscopy (18th) then surgery (19th). All of that without food and then after surgery a liquid diet. (Gee, I hope I’m not making you envious.) Set aside those days, plus the days of recovery afterward, to pray for “yours truly.” I mean this from “the bottom of my heart;”I am glad that you prayer partners are out there. You are a great deal of comfort to me. Bro. Joe Hi! - this is from Faith (Joe's daughter)
Mom just called from Dad's Dr. appointment. Daddy has cancer again... this time it is in his colon. I will post more information later - I just want to put out this urgent prayer request on Dad and Mom's behalf. Thank you! Faith This is an update from Daddy that we posted on Caringbridge: Dear prayer partners, the news is not good. The lymphoma has not come back. I have colon cancer. I will have a colonoscopy on Jan. 18 and colon surgery on Jan. 19. Dr. Bennett, who will do the colonoscopy and surgery, says that he thinks surgery will get it and I should not have to have chemo again. Let us pray that chemo will not be necessary. Also pray that the surgery will get all of it. The way the doctor talked, he felt that surgery would get all of it. Pray that I will remember that: “There is nothing, no circumstances; no testing that can touch me until it has come past God and past Christ, right through to me. If it has come that far, it has come with great purpose.” (Alan Redpath) Once again, I have to wait to see what God’s purpose in all of this is. Everything happens in God’s time, not mine. It is all in his hands. Needless to say, I am still a little shell-shocked from the news that I have another cancer. I am facing it in faith, but you need to pray for me to have patience and to really trust God through it all. Can you believe that the main thing I am dreading right now is the preparation for the colonoscopy? I’ll be asleep during the colonoscopy and surgery, but one can’t sleep and drink Nulytely? (If you have ever had a colonoscopy, you know what I’m thinking about.) Of course, waking up from surgery will be a real challenge as well. Just continue to pray for me. Bro. Joe The period of Judges is not a high point in Old Testament history.The book of Judges closes with these words: “In those days there was no king in Israel; every man did that which was right in his own eyes.”I recently finished reading Judges on my way through the Bible. At one point I made a note at the top of the page:
“What a sorry mess.” Here were the “people of God,” who promised to follow the Mosaic Law, living like they wanted to. The sad thing is that Judges reminds me of our own day. It seems that people today are intent on doing “that which is right in their own eyes.” People can do and say all sorts of immoral things and say, “What I do is my own business and nobody else’s.” To an extent, this is true. It is true if all that counts is human opinion, but it leaves God out of the equation. We forget that we will give account to God for all that we say and do. “It’s my own business” will not stand up in God’s court. Understand that I am not being judgmental here. I know that God is not entirely happy with everything that I say and do, nor is He satisfied with all that you say and do, but He accepts our confession and forgives us. There are many people who do not know that they will have to give an account to God; they just go on “doing their own thing.” This attitude filters over into the church too. We can’t live like we want to and do the Lord’s work at the same time. I remind myself of this often, especially in my thought life, since thoughts give life to deeds. We need to watch what we say and do because doing what we want to do and saying what we want to say is not the Biblical or Christian thing to do. Bro. Joe When we last visited Gideon, he had laid out a fleece, asking God to prove Himself. God humored him twice on the "fleece thing" and Gideon raised an army of 30,000 men to fight the powerful Midianite army. Was God impressed with this massive army? No. God told Gideon that his army was too large. (At this point, Gideon probably said "What?") First, God asked Gideon to tell all of the men who were afraid that they could go home. 22,000 of the 30,000 took him up on his offer and went home. Alright, now Gideon has an army of 8,000 men. God wasn't finished yet. Gideon's army was still too large. God told Gideon to take his army to a stream of water and tell all of them to take a drink from the stream. All of those who stooped and lapped the water like dogs were culled, and all of those who stooped and lapped water from their hands stayed. Gideon now had an army of 300 men. This time Gideon did not fuss with the Lord. To make a long story short, through a clever maneuver, Gideon's army defeated the vast Midianite army. (Read about it in the seventh chapter of Judges.)
There are two morals to this story. One, Gideon learned not to question God. We need to learn this lesson as well and accept Him as the omniscient God that He is. Two, 300 men used of God are superior to a vast army of men warring in the flesh. Someone said that "God plus one is a majority." Wrong! God is a majority. As we serve Him in 2012, we need to remember this lesson. |
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