“Prayer with Thanksgiving”

1 Timothy 2:1–4 ¹First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, ²for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. ³This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, ⁴who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.

            There is no doubt that you pray and ask God for help with your life and with those whom you love.  We all pray at some time or another.  How many of us pray for the poor, the evil, and those whom have hurt us, not to say that you don’t, however these are not always the first things we pray for.  Most of our prayers but not all usually deal with what is going on in our lives around us and those things that affect us the most.  This is good; God surely loves it when we pray, because He knows that we are trying to depend on Him and we believe in Him, and this is what God wants from us, that we depend on Him.  It is called faith and trust and so we should continue praying to God through faith and trust that He will be faithful and answer our prayers. 

            Faith and trust is something we all have a hard time with, and especially at the times we pray.  We do not always trust that God listens or even answers all of our prayers all the time.  This is sometimes caused by not praying for the right things, that is, not praying in the will of God (James 4:3).  What God wants us to pray for is as important as God wanting us to pray to Him (James 5:15-17).  Getting back to trusting God, trusting in God does not come by just saying you will trust Him, it comes from getting to know Him.  Those who know God know Him through His word and actions.

Some try to recreate the creator and turn God into an idol of man’s making, this is not knowing God.  To know God is to know His word.  Some try to discredit God’s word and therefore hamper others from knowing God, this too turns God into an idol of man’s making and prevents the building of faith and trust in the one true God.  It is the very words that God had the writers put down in the canon we call the bible that tell us we have a God who answers prayer.  The Holy Bible is probably the most owned book and the least read of those who possess it.

            Jesus Christ says that whatever you ask in His name you will receive, (John 14:13-14).  Jesus also says that you will receive if you have faith, (Matthew 21:22).  That is, if you know God you will trust Him and look for the answer to your prayers and petitions to God our Father who will give you a fatherly answer.  Yes, God answers sometimes with yes, no, not yet, and He does it out of fatherly love and care for all. 

            1 Timothy 2:8a ⁸I desire then that in every place the men should pray, lifting holy hands without anger or quarreling;

            I love the time just before worship service, because our Elders come together and pray for all of you.  I love hearing their prayers for you because they come from their heart.  This is the one time we come together and put all other things aside and look to do the work our Lord has called us to do.  It is very uplifting to see the men of our church pray together.  True men are not afraid to pray together, and these are true men.

            I love it also when our Board of Directors get together and we pray for guidance from God trusting that He will answer what we have prayed for in His name and His will.  These too are real men.  Some people like to pray alone and that is good and that should happen in all of our lives. But lets not get hung up on our Lord’s word.

            Matthew 6:6 ⁶ But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

            The message that our Lord Jesus Christ is trying to get across is to be genuine in your prayer, do not pray to be seen so as to bring glory to yourself.  Jesus surely wants us to pray in privateand He wants us to pray together too.

            Acts 1:14 ¹⁴ All these with one accord were devoting themselves to prayer, together with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and his brothers.

            When we pray together we become one together in the name of Christ.  We become an active member of the body of Christ, not dysfunctional, but healthy growing, and a productive member of Christ’s body the Church.

1 Timothy 2:5–7 ⁵For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, ⁶who gave himself as a ransom for all, which is the testimony given at the proper time. ⁷For this I was appointed a preacher and an apostle (I am telling the truth, I am not lying), a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth.

            We can surely pray thanking our Lord for all His blessings and intersession for us all.  Jesus Christ prayed for us too, and asked that the Father be one with Him and we too be one with Him, (John 17).  This Jesus did through faith and trust that God would help Him fulfill this prayer.  Jesus was part of the answer to His own prayer for us by giving Himself for our sake.  Christ is the answer to most of our prayers as He suffered humility, pain and a death nailed on a cross.  It is through this extreme effort that He ransomed Himself to give us a life we ask for.  Though God has said to many not yet, we can be assured that His not yet is a yes given at the proper time.  A testimony is something true, and Jesus Christ is the testimony of God’s promises fulfilled.  Christ is the answer to our ultimate prayer for a life of pure joy, which is given to us in an eternal life and loving relationship with the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

By Pastor Curtis May

GO and Serve The Lord

 Being Excited in What He Gives You

God Blesses Us Always, Christ and You are Living Proof of It.

“I Am The Foremost, and still in the Body of Christ”

Ezekiel 34:20–21 ²⁰“Therefore, thus says the Lord God to them: Behold, I, I myself will judge between the fat sheep and the lean sheep. ²¹Because you push with side and shoulder, and thrust at all the weak with your horns, till you have scattered them abroad,

1 Timothy 1:12–17 ¹⁷To the King of ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.

          It is said that the first impression is what gets you into the door.  This is true when one is new to an area, in an interview, or introducing themselves to the parents of the one they would like to spend the rest of their lives with.  It is also true because the first action we take in almost every facet of life is to judge another person, a situation, or an action performed by another person.  This is also true, most of the time when we judge someone else, we find that what we judged them on we too possess that same fault.  It becomes a reality check on pointing ones finger and seeing three fingers pointing back at us.  Most of time, when we judge, we do so with little or no good information, and then we judge each other with attitude and agenda.  This is why God should judge and we should not.  This is why Jesus Christ says…

Luke 6:37-38 Judging Others

^{37 ,} “Judge not, and you will not be judged; condemn not, and you will not be condemned; forgive, and you will be forgiven; ³⁸ give, and it will be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For with the measure you use it will be measured back to you.”

          However like Paul, we can judge our self, or maybe not, for Paul did not really judge himself, rather he was judged by God’s word.  We too are judged by God’s word and find that we are a sinner and like Paul we are numbered among the foremost of sinners throughout our life. 

I too have to look at myself every day and see my reflection in the mirror that God has placed before all of us.  The mirror that God has given us reflects our true image and is made of God’s laws that we break and misuse on a daily basis.  We even rewrite God’s laws and give them new definitions to justify our breaking them.  We even try to water God’s laws down and try to make them to be something not important enough to worry about.  No matter how hard I try God’s laws still reflect who and what I am, a foremost sinner just like Paul and just like you, and we are all still in the body of Christ.

1 Timothy 1:12–14 ¹²I thank him who has given me strength, Christ Jesus our Lord, because he judged me faithful, appointing me to his service, ¹³though formerly I was a blasphemer, persecutor, and insolent opponent. But I received mercy because I had acted ignorantly in unbelief, ¹⁴and the grace of our Lord overflowed for me with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus.

          Acts 9:15-16 ¹⁵ But the Lord said to him, “Go, for he is a chosen instrument of mine to carry my name before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel. ¹⁶ For I will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name.”

          Paul was all that he judged himself to be or rather that the refection God’s laws portrayed him to be, and Paul accepted this image of himself to his humbleness and to His reward (1 John 1:8).  It seems odd that God say’s Paul will see how much suffering he will have to face for God’s name’s sake and Paul then thanks God for appointing him to God’s service.  After reading this I thank God too for appointing me to His service, for I know that God forgives me as He forgave Paul.  In fact we can all rejoice for God has called and appointed us all to His service and for the same purpose as Paul was appointed to serve.  We are called to be a functional part of the body of Christ, for His will setting our will aside.  God’s good and gracious will is…

1 Timothy 1:15–17 ¹⁵The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost. ¹⁶But I received mercy for this reason, that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display his perfect patience as an example to those who were to believe in him for eternal life.

          God’s will for us is to share in the eternal life and relationship He has promised us and therefore witness to the world Matt.28: 18-20.  What did Paul say?  We have a God of patience.  We do have a God of patience and His patience is preceded by His grace and mercy. God has given us the greatest and best of His love through Jesus Christ who also suffered and died in service to His and our Father in Heaven.  It is the greatest show of love that Jesus Christ could show to those who came from His Father’s creation.  Jesus Christ shows His love for God by suffering the punishment for all sin and perfecting the means to give continued life to those whom God loves, you, we, us.  So we suffer in this world; our tears will be wiped away in the next world that is an eternal life and relationship with our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  We can look forward to that perfect life, relationship, and joyful love, given as a gift from God’s heart.

Luke 15:10 ¹⁰Just so, I tell you, there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”

John 10:11 ¹¹ I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.

Amen in the name of the Father the Son and the Holy Spirit, Amen.