Paul begins his letter by expressing a need to pray and give thanks for the believers there in Thessalonica, “We ought always and indeed are morally obligated to give thanks to God for you…”(1:3) And then closes the chapter with a prayer for them, “ With this in view, we constantly pray for you, that our God will count you worthy of your calling [to faith] and with [His] power fulfill every desire for goodness, and complete [your] every work of faith, so that the name of our Lord Jesus will be glorified in you, and you in Him, according to the [precious] grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.” (1:11-12)
How is your prayer life? I know we often say we will pray, we should pray, but are we taking the time to pray for others; especially for our loved ones, as well as our own needs? I became curious, and discovered through my research, that Paul prays 42 times in his epistles. No doubt about it, Paul was a man of prayer, who not only prayed himself, but encouraged others to as well. Why is it many of us struggle to pass along a legacy of prayer?
Paul, himself has admitted prayer is warfare (2 Cor 10:3-5; Eph 6:10-20), and we know our enemy will do all he can to keep us from praying, but sometimes I think we tend to over complicate the simple act of prayer.
Take for example just the name of God revealed to Moses at the burning bush - YHWH - actually denotes breathing sounds in the Hebrew language. Linguists call them aspirate consonants. If you try to pronounce the name without the vowels, one simply breathes. So, every time we breathe in (YH) and breathe out (WH), we are speaking the name of God. (Try it) Every time we breathe, YHWH all of us; believers and skeptics alike are actually speaking the name of our God, the One who is the Breathe of Life.
The highest name of our God is the sound of our breathing. Calling on our Lord is just a breath away! Here’s a little of what Scripture has to say about breath:
- “Cease to trust in [weak, frail, and dying] man, whose breath is in his nostrils [for so short a time]; in what sense can he be counted as having intrinsic worth?” -Isaiah 2:22
- “[It is] the Spirit of God that made me, and the breath of the Almighty that gives me life”. -Job 33:4
Knowing this, can you see how sometimes man seems to complicate thing?
I learned these truths right about the time my son went off to school for the first time. He had a very sweet teacher, who was in her first year of teaching. The trouble was, she tended to allow the class to get out of control and then she began raising her voice to try to bring the children back under control. My son was not used to “a yeller”, as he called her, and began to get anxious the moment the class started getting chaotic. As he described it, he wanted to, “run out of the room and not stop running until he made it home”. Somehow, I had to help him at six years old to sit tight, and call on Jesus when the class got out of control and he began to grow anxious.
The first thing I did was to pull out my Amplified Bible. It’s now referred to the Classic Amplified Bible and I highly recommend every home have one and here’s why:
The first thing I did was to pull out my Amplified Bible. It’s now referred to the Classic Amplified Bible and I highly recommend every home have one and here’s why:
Here’s Hebrews 2:18 in the English Standard Version, “ For because he himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.”
Here’s the same verse my son read in the Amplified Bible,
For because He Himself [in His humanity] has suffered in being tempted (tested and tried), He is able [immediately] to run to the cry of (assist, relieve) those who are being tempted and tested and tried [and who therefore are being exposed to suffering]. Hebrews 2:18 (AMPC emphasis mine)
I explained to him that God had a purpose for him in that classroom! He needed him to be an intercessor to help keep the class from getting out of control. I then referred him to God’s name, YHWH and that he didn’t have to go into a posture of prayer, or even pray a long prayer; all he needed to do was call out to Him with a deep breath and a whisper, and ask His help referring to Heb 2:18. I convinced him to go back to school the next day and give it a try, and you can bet I was praying throughout the day as well, until he returned home, and I'll never forget our conversation once he made it home:
Me: “So, how did your day go today? Did the class get chaotic again?”
JD (eyes growing bigger): “Yep!”
Me: “Did the teacher start yelling?”
JD, (Nodding): “Oh ya!”
Me: “Did you pray?”
JD: “Yep, just like you told me.”
Me: “Well, what happened!!?” (not being able to stand the suspense any longer!)
JD: “Jesus came running to the rescue, Mom! Just like the verse says! The class all of a sudden started quieting down!”
That day, not only did Jesus start to become more than someone JD learned about in Sunday School, but he also learned that the words in the Bible are true and can be trusted! And today, that little guy has four of his own children, and is doing a far better job than his mom at teaching his children how to stand on their own!
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Hi Everyone!
If you enjoyed this post I'd like to personally invite you to join me and a wonderful, eclectic group of women from all over the world on a Facebook site we call, Women in the Word . We are currently traveling through the entire New Testament - one chapter a day! It has been such an incredibly journey which we want to share with you! So, if you've ever wanted to know more of what God's Word has to say about everything, and meet and make new friends from all over the world, come join us by clicking on this link .
There will always be someone there to welcome you! Oh! And please feel free to invite others!
God bless you,
sue